Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 38, to delete lines 30 to 33 and substitute the following:

"(9) The obligation on a water services authority to comply with a request from the Minister under subsection (7) shall not apply where the water services in question cannot be provided due to climatic conditions or other circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the water services authority.".

I promised to return to the provision on Report Stage to address a specific concern expressed by Deputy Gilmore on Committee Stage. He expressed concern that the current wording of subsection (9), which is couched in terms of the liability of water services authorities regarding a water service, might be interpreted as relieving it of all legal liability as a consequence of providing substandard water services, even where the problem might have been aggravated by underlying incompetence on the part of the authority in the first instance.

It was never intended that the proposed provision be given such an interpretation. Its only purpose was to provide that, where the Minister requests a water services authority under subsection (6) to provide a water service, the obligation on the authority to comply should not apply where circumstances such as adverse climatic conditions beyond the reasonable control of the water services authority prevent it from doing so.

To address the Deputy's concerns, the revised wording in subsection (9) avoids reference to liability or any similar construction, providing only that a water services authority will not be obliged to comply with a request from the Minister under subsection (7) to provide water services in a given area where circumstances outside its reasonable control prevent it from doing so. I regard the provision as a reasonable restriction on the application of the powers under subsection (7) and trust the clarification will meet the concerns that the Deputy expressed on Committee Stage.

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