Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
1275. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if his Department has requested Irish Water to restart a water meter installation programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24391/18]
View answerOn 21 May 2018, I published the Water Services Policy Statement 2018-2025 following its approval by Government. The Policy Statement sets out a series of high-level policy objectives across the three thematic areas of Quality, Conservation, and Future Proofing, which must be pursued when planning capital investment and framing current spending plans. The Policy Statement is available on my Department's website at the following link:http://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/water_services_policy_statement_2018-2025_0.pdf. The Policy Statement supports the promotion of water conservation and water resource management as an important element of water services policy that is to be reflected in strategic investment planning by Irish Water. For the period of the Policy Statement, this will involve the prioritisation of multifaceted programmes around leak detection and repair, network improvements, cost effective metering, public awareness campaigns and funding to fix customer side leaks.
This policy statement was informed by the 2017 Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services which was approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas and which includes a number of recommendations in relation to the continued use of metering to support water conservation, to reduce leakages and to ensure compliance with the European Union Water Framework Directive, as opposed to for revenue raising purposes. The Water Services Policy Statement is consistent with this position.
Within 3 months of publication of the Water Services Policy Statement, Irish Water must prepare a Strategic Funding Plan setting out its proposals for operational and capital expenditure on all aspects of the development and delivery of public water services, including conservation and water resource management. Once finalised and approved by me as Minister, the Strategic Funding Plan will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and will inform Irish Water’s submissions to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities which will consider the efficiency of investment proposals. Ultimately this will feed into annual Exchequer decisions on spending.
