Mr. Jerry Grant:

I will cover some general points. Mr. Kevin Murray will deal specifically with some of the technical points around the specifications and also the radio signal question.

On the general point of stopcock replacement, stopcocks have been the subject of gradual replacement since the early 1990s. The Department specifically advised local authorities in this regard and many of the latter had, long before the non-domestic programme was introduced, insisted that meter boxes be used. This was because they anticipated the introduction of metering. Indeed, meters were installed in some local authority areas. We found many boxes with meters that were installed under planning conditions in certain counties. In those situations we replaced the meter with our meter so that we could read it efficiently with our system. Those boxes were perfectly good for the job. The basic point, in respect of both questioners, is that the standards are a default position and one can always default to a standard. However, a standard does not, of itself, absolve one of responsibility for adequacy of design. A company such as Irish Water, which has a strong engineering capability, absolutely has the right - the codes allow for this and the non-binding guidance document acknowledges it - to consider the specific circumstances and conditions that obtain.

As I said in the presentation, the backfill standards generally and, in particular, the way the concrete surround is cast around the cover make it very robust. In terms of normal traffic, for example, a car, it can handle at least three to four times the load. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The reality is that approximately 225,000 of these have been installed in this country since 2009. They began to be installed in 2002. The UK experience corroborates that. So there was no reason to be concerned beyond the fact that they were more cost effective and guaranteed to be easy to read. As specified in the documents, we provided for the option of a grade B cover precisely because there would be situations where a milk truck or something of that nature might necessitate the higher strength cover. It is absolutely correct to acknowledge to Deputy Healy Rae that there is a big difference in strength and the stronger cover can be used precisely in those situations.

We cannot guarantee that we have every example right but, clearly, if a failure arises in the period of guarantee of this contract, the contractor is obliged to replace it at his own cost because that is what the contract requires him to do. If it happens beyond that, then clearly we will have to replace it. However, the number in that regard will be very small. Mr. Kevin McSherry will talk about the generality of examples. The member mentioned some additional ones that would not have been reported. It might be useful for Mr. Kevin Murray to talk about the issue of the readability of the meters.