The Minister for Finance has defended the number of staff being taken on by Irish Water.
Michael Noonan says transferring workers to a single body is the best way to slowly wind down the number of people working in the water service.
His comments come after it was claimed that Irish Water could spend 2 billion euro paying staff that are surplus to requirements.
Minister Noonan says leaving the staff with their local authorities would cost the taxpayer even more:
But Fianna Fáil's described the costs of setting up the new utility as "abhorrent".
Environment spokesman Barry Cowen says the government can't keep deferring questions about Irish Water's costs to the energy regulator.
