Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

362. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the cost of dismantling Irish Water and abolishing water charges. [27494/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Earlier this year, in the context of Government formation discussions, some broad estimates of the potential costs of abolition of Irish Water were prepared. It was estimated that once off costs for staff redundancies, termination of contracts, transitioning to another model etc. could range from €85 million - €169 million. In addition, some €1.6 billion additional running and capital costs would arise over the period of the current Irish Water Business Plan to 2021, due to the fact that the efficiencies agreed in the context of that plan would be unlikely to be achieved in a return to a local authority model. However, as the Deputy will be aware, this Government is committed to retaining Irish Water as a single national utility in public ownership responsible for the delivery of water and wastewater services. To build public confidence in Irish Water, I will be establishing an External Advisory Body which will advise on measures to improve the transparency and accountability of Irish Water and to give quarterly reports on its performance in relation to its Business Plan to an Oireachtas Committee.

The Government has established an Expert Commission to make recommendations for the sustainable long-term funding model for the delivery of domestic water and wastewater services by Irish Water. The Commission will report to a Special Oireachtas Committee and consideration of recommendations on the funding model will ultimately be voted upon by the Oireachtas next year.

If domestic water charges were abolished, Irish Water and the Group Water sector would require additional funding to substitute for the loss of revenue from domestic customers. The estimated additional revenue requirement in 2017 alone would be €240.5 million. The redeployment of the Water Conservation Grant as subvention to Irish Water would provide savings of €110 million to offset these additional costs.