Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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40. To ask the Taoiseach if the Central Statistics Office provided all information required to EUROSTAT in respect of the classification of Government bodies, including Irish Water, in respect of the general Government sector, in relation to the way these bodies will be reflected in the excessive deficit procedure statement that is expected to be announced by EUROSTAT at the end of October 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16696/15]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The classification of Government Bodies is an on-going process. The CSO published the Register of Public Sector Bodies (including General Government Bodies) in Ireland in respect of 2014 on 1st April 2015. This register is compiled by the CSO and not all classification decisions are referred to Eurostat - this process is generally reserved for cases which are particularly complex, are the subject of new or changed guidance, or are material to deficit and debt measures. The register as published on April 1st shows Irish Water as having been provisionally classified to the government sector. This was in accordance with an approach agreed between CSO and Eurostat during the 2014 EDP dialogue visit, as a prudential measure, in the event that a final classification decision on Irish Water had not been reached by the time of the March EDP notification. This provisional classification was reflected in the EDP notification sent to Eurostat at the end of March and in the government finance statistics published by the CSO on Monday 20th April.

An initial classification proposal on Irish Water along with supporting documentation, as required, has been submitted by the CSO to Eurostat. In the submission to Eurostat, Irish Water is forecast to function as a market, publicly-controlled institutional unit, to be classified outside the General Government Sector in the non-financial corporations sector based on the current business plan and financial forecasts. The CSO and Eurostat are now engaging in a process of clarifications which may include the provision of additional material to Eurostat if required. The final classification decision will be made by Eurostat. The classification decision will be reviewed in later periods as actual results become available.

The Register of Public Bodies will be updated by the CSO in October 2015 to reflect any changes in classification of public bodies which may have been decided upon between the March and October EDP notifications.