Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

There are three aspects to this amendment. The first is the expansion of the scope of the section from sewers to include waste water works. Another aspect is the simplification of the terminology and the third is the application of the maintenance obligations under the section to all providers of water services regardless of whether they are under contract.

Under section 60 as currently drafted, all services providers are required to keep their sewers in good order. This is intended to apply to all elements of the waste water collection and treatment process. However, in the light of the revised definitions of sewer and waste water works in section 2, the use of the word "sewer" confines the scope of this section to a narrow field of application incorporating only the actual sewer pipes through which effluent is collected. Substitution of the term "waste water works" ensures that the maintenance obligations apply to all elements of a water service provider's waste water collection and treatment infrastructure.

The second aspect relates to the simplification of the terminology. Replacement of the detailed statement of obligation for waste water works to be cleansed, emptied, covered and properly constructed with a simpler requirement for them to be maintained is intended to avoid possible loopholes arising from over-defining the obligation, resulting in a consequential restriction on its scope. It is envisaged that the requirement to maintain the infrastructure which amounts to the same as that being replaced will be capable of a flexible reasoned interpretation to accommodate the commonly understood meaning of the term "at the discretion of the courts". The original wording of subsection (1) places the obligations under the section on water services authorities, their public-private partnership partners and authorised providers of water services. The amendment expands this obligation to include persons operating with, or on behalf of, authorised water services providers under contract. It is part of a series of similar amendments to the text of the Bill to ensure relevant powers and duties under the Bill apply also to that category of water services provider. It is considered appropriate and equitable that such an obligation exists for a water services authority and an authorised provider for water services. While these obligations have been extended to the PPP partner of a water services authority, they should also be extended to the PPP partner of the authorised water services provider.