Mr. Martin Vaughan:

My answer to that would be that one must look at the context in which the circulars were written. They were written in the context of local authorities taking estates in charge. They were taking into charge works that had been carried out by private developers.

The local authority was taking over responsibility for that infrastructure, so it had a right to insist on the standard of infrastructure of which it was taking control. It is no longer taking control of water services infrastructure. The circulars are still relevant and binding in that other elements of the site development works document are taken in charge by local authorities. However, water services infrastructure is not. Therefore, if there is a problem now with water services infrastructure and it needs to be replaced, the responsibility for that no longer falls on the local authority. It falls on Irish Water to replace it. The circular no longer applies in that regard, but that point is not appreciated.