Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the discussion. I want to address the transfer of responsibility from local authorities to Irish Water and how the unresolved nature of this issue sets a worrying precedent for other problems that may lie in wait. Specifically, it is the ability of councils to take charge of housing estates with developer provided infrastructure, DPIs. This has been discussed at the Committee on Public Petitions and relates to the many estates that have been left in limbo since the transfer of responsibility for water services from the local authority to Irish Water. While a memorandum of understanding has been put together to include a certain cohort of estates, those with stand-alone DPIs have been left out.

According to Tipperary County Council, the local authority cannot take the estate in charge unless Irish Water agrees to assume responsibility for the DPl. This, it said, is not happening as there is no national agreement in place and there is a lack of progress on the taking-in-charge process. Until Irish Water puts in place a national strategy to address this, these estates, including the Rocksprings, Kilross, County Tipperary, will continue to make payments to the local authority, yet the council cannot maintain these estates as Irish Water will not take responsibility for the water services.

The council seems to be doing all it can to address this, but without a coherent plan and understanding between Irish Water, the Department and local authorities, these estates are abandoned. Irish Water is not living up to its commitment to put in place the national strategy it spoke of and the Department has a role to play in this regard to bang heads together and oblige Irish Water to resolve this. Is Irish Water unprepared to shoulder the responsibility? Is it waiting on more money from the Department? We need answers and we need to know who is blocking progress. I would appreciate a progress report on this from the Minister.

On the proposals in general, the lack of preparation that I spoke of seems to extend to the lack of details about holding a referendum to enshrine public ownership of the water system in the Constitution. This has potential impacts for employees in terms of the protections to be afforded to them as well as for the constituents of my home county who are failed by the utility company daily.

Irish Water refuses to come before the council to answer questions on its performance and its communications strategy. We need accountability and we need to see Irish Water take responsibility for the services it has been charged to provide. Faith in Irish Water is low, to put it mildly, and frustration with it is at an all-time high in Tipperary. Will the Minister clearly outline what input councils may have towards water services in the future?

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