Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 December 2013
8. Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if any of the borrowings Irish Water availed of from the National Pensions Reserve Fund were used to service contracts for water installation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51814/13]
View answer17. Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the uses that will be made of Exchequer funds provided to Irish Water; if any of the Exchequer funding will be used to repay National Pensions Reserve Fund borrowings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51813/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 17 together.
A key objective of the water sector reform programme is to rationalise the cost of the current service delivery and ensure more efficient operation of water services by moving from 34 water services authorities to a single body; following enactment of the Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013 which is currently being considered by the Seanad, these functions will transfer to Irish Water.
Expenditure to date by Bord Gáis/Irish Water in preparation for this transfer is not being funded from the Exchequer, with the exception of €0.7m which has been committed for a pilot study in relation to phase 2 of the metering programme. The National Pensions Reserve Fund has provided a bridging loan facility to Irish Water to meet the costs arising to the end of 2013. This includes the initial stages of the domestic water metering programme, the full cost of which is €539m excluding VAT.
Irish Water’s costs in the coming years will be funded through a mix of revenue from the domestic and non-domestic sector, third party finance and State support. In 2014, it is proposed to make a direct equity investment of €240m from the Exchequer towards the capital funding of Irish Water. This will support projects to be included in Irish Water’s Capital Investment Plan. Work is also underway on the funding model for Irish Water’s operational costs, to ensure that it can fund the Service Level Agreements being put in place with local authorities for the delivery of water services in 2014. Funding for this purpose will be made available to Irish Water through the Local Government Fund in 2014. Irish Water will also finance some of its costs (both capital and operational), including the liabilities transferred from local authorities, through borrowings and revenue from the non-domestic sector in 2014
