ESB utility model works — replicate it for water

Irish Water was explicitly designed to meet the criteria of the market corporation test. The design is a failure, and an embarrassment for the Government, writes Seamus Coffey.

The failure of Irish Water to pass Eurostat’s market corporation test is an embarrassment for the Government. It is not because the Eurostat decision has significant economic consequences, it is because Irish Water was explicitly designed to meet the criteria of the market corporation test. The design is a failure.

In the run-up to this week’s decision it was thought that Eurostat would take an objective and limited perspective — if Irish Water could show that more than 50% of the revenue required to cover its operating expenses could be raised from private sources then it would be deemed a business and put in the accounts of the corporate rather than government sector.