Irish Water Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 April 2015

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Questions (186, 187)

Sean Fleming

Question:

186. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the total commitment under public private partnership contracts that were or are being transferred to Irish Water, in respect of which there is an estimated operation/maintenance cost of €123,045,700 in 2015; if this information will be provided on a regional basis in relation to the 115 contracts covering 253 sites; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13556/15]

Sean Fleming

Question:

187. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the funding that was paid by his Department or by the local government fund in 2014; the estimate for 2015 in respect of design-build-operate contracts in the water services sector that have an estimated operation/maintenance cost of €123 million in 2015; when these full costs will be transferred to Irish Water; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13557/15]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

I propose to take Questions Nos. 186 and 187 together.

Following enactment of the Water Services (No.2) Act 2013, responsibility for the delivery of public water services became the responsibility of Irish Water from 1 January 2014. This included responsibility for the overall costs involved, both operational and capital costs. Pending the legal transfer of contracts from local authorities to Irish Water, any costs incurred by local authorities for example on Design Build Operate or other maintenance or construction contracts were recouped under Service Level Agreements.

The transfer of contracts was effected through the provisions of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013, which provides the mechanism for the transfer of both water services assets and liabilities of the local authorities to Irish Water. Accordingly, existing Design Build and Operate contracts were included in:

- the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 (Transfer of Other Liabilities) Order 2014, which was signed on 20 February 2014, and

- the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 (Transfer of Other Liabilities) Order (No. 2) 2014, which was signed on 24 April 2014.

My Department has established from Irish Water the current extent of DBO contracts in the water sector and the remaining liability on these contracts is outlined in the following table.

Region	Estimated Costs for remaining life of contracts	Contracts	Sites	Average remaining life on current DBO Contracts
South	477,165,646	50	94	15
East	661,302,553	27	60	14
Northwest	267,235,423	38	78	15
Grand Total	1,405,703,622	115	232	15

Irish Water received a subvention of some €439 million from the Local Government Fund in 2014 for operational expenditure, to fund water-related expenditures incurred heretofore by local authorities and which would, historically, have been met by local authorities from their own resources, non-domestic water charge revenues and general purpose grants from the Fund. An amount of €399m has been allocated from the LGF in 2015 in respect of an operational subvention to Irish Water. This subvention will be paid in respect of the child allowance (21,000 litres per child per annum), a product subsidy and capping domestic water charges.