Michael Noonan says there are no plans to abolish Irish Water or abandon the water charges regime.
That's despite a ruling from Eurostat which says the debts and spending of the water utility must be included in the government's accounts, despite the wishes of the coalition.
It means the overall budget deficit for this year will be over half a billion euro larger than expected.
The finance minister says he's disappointed, but there are no plans to backtrack on the water charges regime:
Eurostat Ruling:
Key elements on which Eurostat advice is based: Considerable government control over Irish Water, in particular over board appointments and operations, including broad pricing parameters such as price caps for non-domestic users.
The fact that Irish Water merely re-organises previously non-market activity carried out by local government, with local government assets being transferred to Irish Water and a large majority of Irish Water staff remaining local government employees.
Significant and continuous government funding and support to Irish Water, mainly in the form of operational grants and capital funding.
The lack of economically significant prices, concerning in particular the capping of fees for households, with 70% of households expected to be protected by the price cap.
The fact that the quantitative criterion is not met (the “50% test”, stipulating that sales must cover at least 50% of the production costs over a sustained multi-year period).
This is further amplified by the high number of households not paying their bills.
