Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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23. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will report on any meetings he had with his Department's officials and Irish Water on prospective legislation on water services. [22332/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Three separate pieces of legislation have been formulated to support the water sector reform programme, since 2013. There has been varying levels of engagement with stakeholders during this process, with a specific legal and legislative work-stream established as part of the implementation strategy published in 2012. This work-stream fed into the development of the two Acts during 2013. This engagement was at official level.

In the context of developing the package of measures on a revised approach to water charges in November 2014, I met with Irish Water officials on a number of occasions on the overall package, which involved both legal and policy issues. The Water Services Act 2014 reflects the majority of the elements of the package agreed by Government in 2014. Further legislative measures to underpin compliance with water charges will be brought forward shortly. Discussions on these matters with Irish Water have been at official level.