The chairman of the Oireachtas Environment Committee says next week's meeting with members of Irish Water - to answer questions about their spending on consultants - is about achieving 'accountability'

Representatives from Irish Water are to appear before the committee this Tuesday to take questions from TD's after it emerged last week that the body spent over 50 million euro on consultants in its first year.

Irish Water has defended its spending, saying it can save the state over 2 billion euro in the next eight years but, TD's want an explanation as how the money was spent.

The Oireachtas Environment Committee Chairman, Labour Party TD Michael McCarthy, explains the main focus of the meeting.