Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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221. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the correspondence his Department has had to date with EUROSTAT in respect of the off balance sheet test; if concerns have been raised with his Department on the issue by EUROSTAT; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3038/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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A key component of the strategy to establish Irish Water is that Irish Water will be classified as a Market Corporation under Eurostat rules and as a result, will not, other than in relation to Government operating subvention, be included in the calculation of the General Government Balance (GGB). The Market Corporation Test is a requirement that income from customers be greater than 50% of production costs.

The Central Statistics Office is responsible for engagement with Eurostat on such matters, and my Department is providing the necessary information to facilitate this work.