Irish Water to be covered by FOI, says O’Dowd

All decisions taken by Irish Water, including those around its establishment, should come under the Freedom of Information Act, according to Minister of State for Natural Resources Fergus O'Dowd.

Mr O’Dowd said the consumer was “at the heart” of the legislation drawn up to create Irish Water, and there will be full accountability around its costs.

Irish Water chief executive John Tierney is due to appear before the Oireachtas Environment Committee tomorrow to address concerns over the company spending €50 million on consultants in a single year.

Mr O'Dowd told RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday that Mr Tierney will answer questions at the committee, and added: "There is also a commitment that there will be accountability to the consumer and the Oireachtas in terms of the Freedom of Information legislation that will apply to Irish Water."

While Irish Water was only established as a legal entity on January 1st, Mr O’Dowd said he expects that FoI will be retrospectively applied. This means it would cover decisions made in 2013 regarding the hiring of consultants.

“I would expect it to be – I can’t see why it wouldn’t be. What would be the point in not having it retrospective?” Mr O’Dowd said.

Fianna Fáil called on the Government to back its Dáil motion to have Irish Water included under the FoI Acts. "The sudden change of heart from Minister O'Dowd . . . in the face of public anger is welcome," environment spokesman Barry Cowen said.

It has also emerged a confidential internal Department of the Environment report initially said existing resources in Bord Gáis would be used in the establishment of Irish Water. RTÉ's This Week programme reported the document sets out a "road map" for the creation of Irish Water as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis but makes no reference to the use of consultants.

The report does make reference to using existing Bord Gáis resources. Existing operational capacity including asset management, network management, customer service, billing and IT were to be utilised.

“The Bord Gáis Group has . . . specific skills from its own experience of transformation, customer relations, network management, metering and utility operation that can be deployed to assist in the successful establishment and operation of Irish Water.

“The approach also reflects the Government’s determination to use capacity and competencies that exist in the State sector in undertaking new functions,” the report states.

A spokesman for Minister Phil Hogan said it “would be expected” that external consultants would be used to help establish a company the size of Irish Water.