Pearse Doherty
Question:220. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance with regard to correspondence (details supplied) the way in which the figure of €550 million is arrived at. [43284/14]
View answerTuesday, 11 November 2014
Questions (220)
Written answers
The figure of €550m referred to by the Deputy represents the impact on the general government deficit for 2014 & 2015 if Irish Water is included within general government. This figure was provided to Deputy Liam Twomey on 9th October 2014 and was based on projections at that time and does not incorporate all of the measures announced in Budget 2015.
If Irish Water is included in general government, all expenditure incurred and revenue generated will be treated as general government expenditure and revenue respectively.
For 2014, in broad terms, Irish Water will incur expenditure in the region of €1.5 billion in respect of establishment costs, the metering programme, operational and capital expenditure. This would then be treated as general government expenditure. Circa €0.3 billion of revenues of Irish Water would also count as general government revenue, bringing the net impact on the general government deficit to circa €1.2 billion. However, a subvention to Irish Water of €0.45 billion is already treated as general government expenditure. A further amount of €0.2 billion of capital expenditure undertaken by Irish Water is also being counted as general government expenditure because it was carried out in respect of assets not yet transferred from Local Authorities. Excluding these two items that are already charged to general government, the balance of €550m is the shortfall in Irish Water income compared to its expenditure and represents the impact on the deficit if Irish Water is included in general government.
For 2015, in broad terms, Irish Water will incur expenditure in the region of €1.5 billion. This would then be treated as general government expenditure. Circa €0.5 billion of revenues of Irish Water would also count as general government revenue. This includes €0.2 billion of commercial water charges and €0.3 billion in domestic water charges. A subvention from the Local Government Fund of €0.45 billion is already included as general government expenditure. The balance of €550m is the shortfall in Irish Water income compared to its expenditure and represents the impact on the deficit if Irish Water is included in general government.