“Welcome to the Water Advisory Body’s website! The purpose of this website is to explain “who we are” and to demonstrate “what we do.”

• The Water Advisory Body (the WAB) is established under statute.

•  The WAB consists of five members. Details of each member can be found by clicking on the “Who we are” tab at the top of this webpage or the “Who we are” button in the middle of this webpage.

• The Water Advisory Body has two main roles. The first role is to report on how well Irish Water is performing and the second role is to help increase public confidence in Irish Water.

• Irish Water Performance

  Irish Water’s business plan is a public document [ref here]. Every three months the Water Advisory Body prepares a report on Irish Water. This report sets out the Body’s view on how well Irish Water is performing against their own business plan. Each report is prepared for the Oireachtas and is published on this website.
  In the report, we pay attention to Irish Water’s performance under the following headings:

1. infrastructure delivery (for example pipes and treatment plants) and leakage reductions;
2. cost reduction and efficiency improvements (this includes the operation of the public water and wastewater system);
3. improvements in water quality, including the elimination of boil water notices;
4. procurement, remuneration and staffing policies; and
5. responsiveness to the needs of communities and enterprise.

• Confidence in Irish Water

  The Water Advisory Body also advises the Minister on the measures needed to improve the transparency and accountability of Irish Water. The purpose is to increase public confidence in Irish Water. This advice to the Minister can form part of our annual report to the Minister, or can be separate.

• Legislation and legal basis

  The WAB is established under the Water Services Act, 2017. The WAB was formally established on 1 June 2018.
  The Water Advisory Body (“WAB”) is an independent State Body, set up under the Water Services Act 2017. The purpose of the WAB is to advise the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government on measures needed to improve the transparency and accountability of Irish Water. In addition to this the WAB also reports to an Oireachtas Committee focusing on the performance of Irish Water on the implementation of its business plan.”