Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 April 2015
775. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the total cost to the Exchequer, to date, of establishing Irish Water; and the projected cost for 2015 and 2016. [14133/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraNo Exchequer funds have been provided for the establishment costs of Irish Water. The only Exchequer funding provided to Bórd Gáis or Irish Water in 2012 or 2013 was a grant of €0.57m to Irish Water in 2013 to fund the cost of a pilot study in relation to Phase 2 of the Water Metering Programme which is targeted at metering those properties that were not meterable in the Phase 1 Programme. In terms of its operations, Irish Water receives funding for capital investment purposes and towards its operating costs. In that context, in 2014, Irish Water received €239m for capital purposes – this was provided by way of €185m capital contribution from the Minister for Finance and a further €54m in the form of a convertible loan. This is broadly equivalent to the €240m in Exchequer resources devoted to the Water Services Investment Programme in 2013. A further capital contribution of €222m in respect of 2015 has also been provided to Irish Water by the Minister for Finance, and it is planned to provide a further capital contribution of €184m in 2016.
Irish Water received a subvention of some €439 million 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 earmarked in 2015 and €479m in 2016 in respect of operational subvention. 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. In addition, provision has been made for the provision of a working capital loan to Irish Water of up to €96m in 2015.
In relation to the broader water sector reform programme, my Department has provided funding of some €21m during the period 2012 to date. The majority of this expenditure related to funding provided to local authorities to meet the costs of the pre-installation survey required as part of the domestic metering programme and the staffing costs of the Water Services Transition Office, which was put in place to ensure appropriate arrangements for engagement with the local authority sector during the reform process.
