Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 June 2015
28. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on a letter of 12 May 2015 from his Department to a person (details supplied) regarding the shortfall in Irish Water revenue and the implications that will have for continued Government subvention. [22070/15]
View answerIrish Water is being funded by a combination of domestic and non-domestic water charges, Government support and the raising of debt on capital markets.
The main aspects of the Irish Water funding model are set out in a detailed fact sheet published on my Department's website. In 2015 Irish Water expects billed income from domestic customers to total €271m and from non-domestic customers to total some €229m, giving a total billed income from customers of €500m.
Government funding is by way of operational subvention, loans and capital contributions. Specifically, the Government will provide €399m in operating subvention to Irish Water in 2015. This subvention will be paid in respect of the child allowance of 21,000 litres per child per annum, a product subsidy and the capping of domestic water charges at the rates set out in the Water Services Act 2014.
The letter of 12 May 2015, referred to in the Question, reflects the current funding position and outlines the conditions associated with the provision of this Government subvention. The conditions around drawdown recognise that there may be variances between forecasts and actual funding attributable to the actual volume of water, number of households and number of children. The letter indicates that while this may lead to a funding requirement of less than the amounts agreed by Government, they cannot lead to the position where there would be an expectation of increased Government subvention. I am satisfied that my Department and Irish Water will be keeping under review all inputs and assumptions and will continue to assess the impact of additional data on Irish Water's finances as such data becomes available.
