Irish Water management has informed unions on the Irish Water Consultative Group (IWCG) that the transfer of water services from local authorities to Irish Water will commence, on a phased basis, from next month.

The Irish Water Consultative Group (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.

Fórsa national secretary Richy Carrothers explained: “The IWCG met last December, where management outlined details of a draft ‘Master Co-operation Agreement,’ currently being prepared between Irish Water and the Local Authority sector.

The new agreement is 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.

“We received a copy of the draft master agreement this week, and unions have been invited to provide feedback on its content, and we’ve asked the WRC to schedule a further meeting of the IWCG as soon as possible,” he said.

Richy said Fórsa continues to brief members at local meetings across the country and that this will continue throughout the transfer period.

He added: “While the master agreement is broadly a legal document, giving effect to the transfer from local authorities to Irish Water, our focus now is on  number of items, dealing with terms and conditions, which must be removed from the new draft agreement before the formal transfer commences,” he said.