17C.— (1) The Board may, after consultation with the Minister, appoint a statutory auditor or statutory audit firm to be a statutory auditor of Uisce Éireann, if the Board considers it appropriate to do so, for the purposes of, and in accordance with, the Act of 2014.

(2) Where a statutory auditor or statutory audit firm is appointed under subsection (1), the first statutory auditor’s report prepared in accordance with section 336 of the Act of 2014 shall be in respect of the financial year specified in subsections (1)(b) or (2)(b) of section 17A, as the case may be, and subsequent reports shall be prepared in respect of each subsequent financial year.

(3) The appointment of a statutory auditor or statutory audit firm under subsection (1) shall not affect the operation of section 17B.

(4) Uisce Éireann shall pay to a statutory auditor appointed under this section such fees as are approved by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

(5) In this section—

“statutory audit firm” has the same meaning as it has in Part 27 of the Act of 2014;

“statutory auditor” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2014.]