Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

This is at the root of what we are discussing. This is not about the supply of a luxury. It is about the supply of something which is essential for life. The Minister spoke about the practical difficulty that this would somehow impose an enormous burden on the State. We know one third of the country's entire housing stock was built during the past ten years, presumably connected either to a group water supply or a public water supply. Certainly this would have been a condition of planning permission.

Dwellings built post-1963 under the terms of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act 1963 are all subject to planning permission which establishes how water is supplied. It removes them from the equation. The Minister stated dwellings built before 1963 operate on private water supplies. If the water supply is contaminated by someone outside of the control of the householder——

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