Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

This amendment incorporates a series of changes and updates to section 55 to expand its scope and synchronise it with similar provisions to section 61 with regard to connection to waste water services. The entire section as revised is reproduced as one amendment to facilitate a clearer understanding of the effects of the various changes to the existing text. Section 55 prohibits unauthorised connection to water supplies and enables a water services authority to require that pipes be opened for inspection prior to connection to its water supply or that of its agent.

The amendment expands the scope of the original section 55 to include, in addition to prohibiting the unauthorised connection of a premises to a supply, an explicit prohibition on taking a supply without permission. The additional provision will, for example, prohibit the unauthorised connection of hoses and standpipes to public water mains during the course of building works. The amendment also synchronises section 55 with the revised definition of service connection in section 2 and ensures that any related pipes and fittings are also included within the scope of the section. Good defence clauses are introduced to ensure synchronisation with the similar provision in section 61 regarding connection to waste water services. The new wording is couched in terms of connection to a water supply rather than a specific water supply pipe so it is not confined to the actual point of connection of a pipe to a water main, but can be applied to any connection made to a water supply network at any point.