State company for water set to be proposed

A REPORT outlining proposals for the setting up of a State company to manage water supplies is expected to be published by the Government next week.

Last year, the Government commissioned accountants Pricewaterhousecoopers to produce a report on the best options for managing the supply and distribution of water in the Republic.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) director Micheál Ó Cinnéide told a meeting in Trinity College Dublin last night the Government is likely to publish the report next week. He said the report advocates treating water as a “nationally-owned public utility” that should not be privatised.

Under the terms of the €67 billion EU/IMF bailout deal, the State is already committed to introducing water meters and water charges.

This sparked fears in some quarters that it could ultimately lead to privatisation of water. However, Mr Ó Cinnéide told the public meeting, “Watertight: the future of Irish water”, that privatisation is unlikely.

Instead he suggested that the Republic is more likely to follow the route taken in Scotland, where a single, State-owned utility is responsible for the management and supply of water.

In December, the Cabinet agreed to establish a single water utility. The Pricewaterhousecoopers report states that a single entity is needed to manage the resource.

During a question and answer session, Mr Ó Cinnéide also stressed that the EPA would not give licences to begin “fracking” for natural gas in the Republic if the practice was likely to pollute or threaten ground water. A number of companies will be seeking licences to do this over the next few years in the northwest and midwest.

Watertight was jointly organised by the EPA and Trinity’s Science Gallery as part of “Surface Tension: the future of water” exhibition, which has been running there this week.