Mr. Joe McGrath:

In a broader context the issue of developer provided infrastructure is a national one. We have had a transition of water services from local authorities to Irish Water and the memorandum of understanding put in place in relation to other estates is working very effectively. However, what we need at national level is a similar memorandum of understanding in relation to how we deal with estates served by DPIs. That is needed for Rocksprings and for the more than 800 other estates in a similar situation around the country. With regard to the responsibility for taking estates in charge, I set out in my opening statement that the responsibility for this is set out in section 180 of the planning and development Act and also in the roads Act. It is a reserved function of the elected members to pass a resolution. Bear in mind that the elected members of Tipperary County Council have passed 122 resolutions in the last eight years taking estates in charge. Normally what happens is the process gone through complies with the memorandum of understanding, MOU, and once the works on the estate are brought up to an acceptable standard, we will bring forward the report to the elected members for consideration. As part of that they have to consider the financial implications of taking in charge and we set that out. That works well for the vast majority of estates. The difficulty is in relation to why the taking in charge is a reserved function of the elected members. The difficulty is that since 2014 responsibility for water services has transferred to IrishF Water so the elected members cannot pass a resolution to take in charge water services infrastructure. What happens in relation to estates generally is that when they pass a resolution Tipperary County Council takes responsibility for the roads, public lighting and open areas, and Irish Water takes responsibility for the water services. There is no similar agreement in place in relation to DPI estates. That is the situation we find ourselves in. I accept our responsibility to solve this but we cannot solve this alone. It will require the input of Irish Water, Tipperary County Council and the Department and, as there is a certificate of authorisation in relation to the wastewater treatment at Hillview, it also requires the input of the EPA. That is the situation. It is very important to understand that the elected members of Tipperary County Council have been very much to the forefront of taking estates in charge. There is no shyness or reticence on our part to do that. We have done so. However, there is a particular issue in relation to estates with DPIs. As I mentioned, there are 25 other estates in Tipperary alone in a similar situation. We believe there is a particular solution for Rocksprings that might be brought forward and which I have outlined in my report and opening statement.