19. The No. 2 Act of 2013 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 34:

“34A. (1) Irish Water shall prepare and submit to the Minister a plan, in this Act referred to as a ‘strategic funding plan’ which shall specify the arrangements that Irish Water proposes to make and measures that it proposes to take to implement the objectives of the water services strategic plan.

(2) Irish Water shall submit a strategic funding plan to the Minister as soon as may be, and in any case, not more than 3 months after the Minister publishes a water services policy statement under section 32A(5) (inserted by section 18 of the Water Services Act 2017).

(3) A strategic funding plan shall specify Irish Water’s opinion as to the following matters for the duration of the water charges plan:

(a) costs likely to be incurred in the provision of water services to dwellings and in the recovery of those costs;

(b) costs likely to be incurred in the provision of water services to premises other than dwellings and in the recovery of those costs;

(c) estimated income of Irish Water;

(d) estimated operating expenditure and capital expenditure of Irish Water.

(4) The Minister shall, not later than one month after a strategic funding plan is submitted to him or her under this section—

(a) approve the plan (with or without modification), or

(b) refuse to approve the plan and require Irish Water to submit to him or her a revised strategic funding plan within such period as he or she directs.

(5) The Minister shall, as soon as practicable after he or she has approved (with or without modification) a strategic funding plan—

(a) cause a copy of it to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas,

(b) furnish a copy of it to the Commission, and

(c) publish the plan on a website maintained by the Minister.

(6) A reference in this section to the water charges plan means a reference to the water charges plan being prepared by Irish Water under section 22.”.