Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

We should clear up any ambiguity in this area and explain what is a service connection. Senator Bannon may have been misinformed if he is thinking of a service connection as providing a water service to works in progress on a building site. The service connection I refer to in this respect is in essence the pipe which runs between the outer boundary of a premises and the sewer or water mains as the case may be. The issue of responsibility for the maintenance of service connections has been raised with the Department and specifically by the Office of the Ombudsman with regard to individual complaints. That office has expressed the view that existing legislation is potentially unfair in requiring owners or occupiers to bear the cost of repairs to service connections in all cases. A service connection is the point where the connection is made and not what I or others may have interpreted as providing a service to an ongoing building site.