Published on Wednesday29thJune2016

Establishment of Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services

20160629Coveney Water Board

Minister Coveney who today announced the establishment of the Expert Commission on the funding of domestic public water services  

Environment Minister Simon Coveney today announced the establishment of the Expert Commission on the funding of domestic public water services in Ireland. The terms of reference of the Commission are outlined below.

The Expert Commission will have 8 independent members and an independent secretariat will be provided by the Institute of Public Administration.  The Commission will be chaired by former Senator, Mr Joe O’Toole, and the other members are as follows:

  •        Dr Xavier Leflaive of the Environmental Directorate of the OECD;
  •        Mr Peter Peacock, Chair of the Customer Forum for Water Scotland and former Scottish Minister;
  •        Mr Bill Emery, Chair of the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator;
  •        Mr Brendan O’Mahony, Chair of the National Federation of Group Water Schemes;
  •        Ms Sarah Hendry, academic lawyer specialising in water and environmental law, University of Dundee, Scotland;
  •        Dr. Andrew Kelly, founder and executive Director of EnvEcon and Environmental Economist; and
  •        Ms Gritta Nottelman, strategy consultant for Waternet, the only water company in the Netherlands that is dedicated to the entire water cycle.

I have chosen people who I consider to have the necessary professional expertise in environmental matters, law, economics, the customer perspective, the water sector and the regulatory system, and I have included a mix of both national and international experts.

...said the Minister.

The timelines associated with the Expert Commission and the Oireachtas deliberations on this work are: 

  •        Commission to report and present its recommendations to the Special Oireachtas Committee within five months of its establishment i.e. by end November 2016; 
  •        Special Oireachtas Committee to deliberate the findings and to report back to the Oireachtas within 3 months of receiving the recommendations of the Expert Commission i.e. by end February 2017; and
  •        Oireachtas to consider and vote upon the recommendations of the committee within a one month period i.e. by end March 2017.