Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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165. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to exempt primary and post primary schools from having to pay water charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32929/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for public water services. The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water shall collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services provided by it. The Act also provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water sector is assigned to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and the CER has been given statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers.

The Water Services Act 2016 suspends domestic water charges for a period of 9 months, to allow for an extensive deliberative process on the future funding of public domestic water services and make recommendations thereon. These will be considered by an Oireachtas committee and, ultimately, the Oireachtas will then determine the enduring funding model for domestic public water services into the future.

From 2001, national water pricing policy required local authorities to recover the costs of providing water services from all non-domestic users of these services. This policy provided for charges based on actual metered consumption and is consistent with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive. Any non-domestic customers, including schools, connected to a public water supply are liable for charges. It should be noted that the existing tariffs for all non-domestic customers are remaining in place with no changes for the time being.

The CER is progressing a review of all aspects of non-domestic water tariffs and in conjunction with Irish Water will establish an enduring non-domestic tariff framework. The CER has recently published an information note informing customers and interested parties about the project and will shortly engage in a period of public consultation on the enduring tariff framework for non-domestic water and or wastewater customers of Irish Water.