Irish Water got €1.1bn in Government funding last year

State-owned Irish Water received €1.1 billion from the Government last year while its parent company Ervia gave €139 million to the exchequer. This compares to €1 billion in 2017.

Figures published on Thursday show that Irish Water spent €683 million on the Republic’s water supply system last year and received €1.1 billion from the Government.

At the same time, its parent, Ervia, which also owns Gas Networks Ireland, paid a €139 million dividend the State.

The accounts note that this included a special dividend of €90 million stemming from the sale of Bord Gáis Energy’s supply business to British company Centrica and of its wind farms to Canadian investor Brookfield in 2014.

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Bord Gáis Energy and Gas Networks Ireland were part of the same State-owned business before the Government split them by selling the natural gas and electricity supply business in a €1.12 billion deal.

The natural gas networks operator became part of Ervia along with Irish Water in 2015. The Government intends splitting the group in 2023, at which point it plans that Irish Water will be a State-owned commercial utility.

In 2017, the special dividend was €100 million while Ervia’s total dividend was €148 million. Excluding the payment relating to the sale, the actual dividend from the company’s activities rose to €49 million last year from €48.4 million in 2017.

Irish Water is responsible for the Republic’s water supply and waste water treatment systems, which it took over from local councils. While businesses pay for water, households do not. The company was originally meant to charge domestic customers, but the Government dropped this plan following public protests.

Revenue

Irish Water earned €982 million in revenue. The projects on which it spent €683 million included renewing the waste water treatment system in Cork Harbour and the Vartry water supply scheme that will serve south Dublin and parts of Wicklow.

It also improved 22 individual regional water supply schemes, which supply 166,000 customers, to ensure they met standards set by the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA).

At the end of April this year, the EPA classed 60 water schemes, which supply 550,000 customers as being “at risk”, meaning they were vulnerable to contamination.

Irish Water also improved supplies to 15,026 customers so they no longer had to boil water to make it fit for drinking.

Gas Networks Ireland is responsible for the pipes that supply natural gas to homes and businesses north and south. It also owns pipes connecting Ireland to the European supply network via Scotland and the North Sea, and a link that provides gas to the Isle of Man.

Gas Networks Ireland spent €143 million on its infrastructure during the year and connected 11,839 new customers.

Tony Keohane, Ervia chairman, said that the company began studying the feasibility of introducing carbon capture and storage, that is trapping and storing greenhouse gas before it gets to the atmosphere, last year.

Cathal Marley, interim chief executive, said Ervia was committed to the investment in water infrastructure promised in the Government’s development plan, Project 2040.

“With the impact of climate change, the forecast increase in population and the pace of economic development, demand for water is increasing,” he said.