Mr. Des Joyce:

I thank the Deputy for her question. The circular referenced by the Deputy is a departmental guidance on the steps that have to be taken when a group water scheme is being taken in charge. Essentially a group water scheme is an entity looking for a connection to our supplies and looking to be taken in charge. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage's rural water section provides grants to bring these schemes up to certain standards. Some of these schemes are been in place for 60 or 70 years so there is a need to have them up to a certain standard. It is only right that the level of leakage should be brought down to the minimum and any of the assets in that network should be improved to a reasonable standard. The standard is not onerous; it is a reasonable standard. In addition-----