Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I second that. I would go further and would look for the Department and the Minister himself to come before the committee, as well as the county council. I know it is easy for us to say but Mr. Coskeran has done everything he can. It is a damning indictment of the council, the Department and Irish Water that they have an individual getting so upset about something that should be easily fixed. It is a problem of their making, not of Mr. Coskeran’s. I hope the media picks up on this and tries to ask questions of the Department, the Minister, the county council and Irish Water.

I have a couple of questions as well and I am looking at the council’s submission to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. In September 2019, the council made a submission to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, under the multi-annual developer-provided water services infrastructure resolution programme. Rocksprings was ranked fourth priority of 11. The council went on to state that the resolution of this impasse is not within the control of Tipperary County Council but is a national issue of legacy matters to be resolved and it will continue to follow that up with Irish Water and the Department. That goes back to what I was saying earlier. It seems to be going around in circles. The council is saying it is the Department but the Department is saying it is the elected members of Tipperary County Council who should make the decision.

If nothing else comes from today’s committee meeting, as Deputy Buckley said, we will ask the county council and the Minister to come before the committee because I am also looking at the letter from Claire Hennessy, which was an email from Irish Water on 2 November 2021. Irish Water informed Mr. Coskeran that the memorandum of understanding between Irish Water and the local authorities specifically excludes estates with their own wastewater treatment plants provided by the developer. They go on to note that Irish Water does not have the existing network and wastewater treatment plants which could cover Rocksprings. It also notes that the neighbouring Hillview estate had not at the time transferred from the local authority to Irish Water and therefore it was not an Irish Water asset. As such, Irish Water could not advise on connecting Rocksprings to Hillview. That seems to confirm that Irish Water itself is saying it had no responsibility. Why then is it even in the picture if it is saying that it has no responsibility for it? It should be the Department and the county council.

It comes back then to the fact that councillors have always looked for lights to be fixed in estates such as Mr. Coskeran’s. He would have heard that the council cannot go in and fix a light because if they fix one light, it is then deemed to have taken charge of that estate and the developer can walk away. It has refused Mr. Coskeran lights there. However, someone has made a decision to allow Irish Water, which says it has no responsibility for that estate, to go in and change meters. Who gave Irish Water the go-ahead to enter a private, unfinished estate, as the council has said, to change water meters? Did anybody ever explain to Mr. Coskeran who gave them permission to go in and change the water meters?