FF Hits Out At Environment Minister Over Irish Water Policy Failings

Fianna Fáil has slammed the Environment Minister after it was revealed the Irish taxpayer will be hit with another €40m this year because of errors on the Irish Water policy.

Spokesperson on Public Expenditure and Reform, Sean Fleming, said Minister Alan Kelly is failing the state and incurring a bill of up to €40m because assets were not transferred on time.

Deputy Fleming said: "At the Public Accounts Committee on February 5th last I asked the Minister's senior officials to provide details of the liabilities under the various Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreements that have and would be transferred to Irish Water from local authorities.


"Surprisingly the department said they did not have the figures and three weeks later they have yet to be received by the Public Accounts Committee. I raised this exact issue with the Minister on a number of occasions throughout 2014 by way of Parliamentary Questions but the Minister said the figures were still being worked on.

"As the department doesn't have a final figure on this, which is estimated to be in excess of €1bn, the Minister has not yet been able to sign the Transfer Order to Irish Water. As a direct result of this delay by the Minister, the taxpayer faces a bill of approximately €40m to fund these liabilities in 2015."

(CD/JP)