The Irish Water Consultative Group (IWCG) is set to meet later today to discuss the ongoing transfer of water services from local authorities to Irish Water. The phased transfer began in February this year.

The IWCG is chaired by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and composed of trade union representatives, senior representatives from the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, the Local Authority Management Agency (LGMA) and Irish Water.

Head of Local Government Richy Carrothers said that Fórsa’s priority continues to be the protection of workers in the local authority water services throughout this process.

“Members will be aware from the updates provided that we have raised concerns over aspects of the final master agreement. We remain committed to the framework to protect our members and Fórsa has been working hard to progress this,” he said.

Earlier this year the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has wrote to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, expressing disappointment that the final master agreement on the transfer of water services from local authorities to Uisce Éireann failed to take account of feedback provided by trade unions. The final master agreement was designed to replace the service level agreement (SLA) between Irish Water and local authorities, which has been in place since the national water body was created.

Members will soon be updated on the outcome of the IWCG meeting.