Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Now that we have certainty about Irish Water, we have a lot more space to look at group water schemes and to see how we can do a lot more and improve how they have been working over a number of years.

The first fix scheme is for a fix on somebody's property, and the obligation is Irish Water will come out and do the fix for free. If there is a subsequent break in the pipe, responsibility will fall on the owner of the property and it is his or her liability. It is very good that there is a first fix scheme in place because we are moving to a new regime. There is accepted in part an obligation on the State to help individual home owners to move to the new scheme, but beyond a first fix if there is a second or third break, or a piece of piping needs replacement because a fix is not holding, it falls on the home owner.