Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What is the position of group water schemes, which at the moment are provided with water from the public system that manages the system from source? Until now, Mayo County Council, in the Cathaoirleach’s home county, has had discretionary powers where there has been leakage or overuse of water within the system to grant a write-down on the debts, and in many cases that has maintained the stability of the group water schemes. Where there have been leakages in undeveloped rural areas the schemes probably do not have the money to fix all of the pipes. They may have lodged applications for capital funding and be waiting for support. Will Uisce Éireann under the service level agreements have similar discretionary powers? Will it be able to give a write-down to a group water scheme in rural Mayo which does not have the funding to upgrade the infrastructure or might be waiting for a grant of some sort or capital investment? It might look to Uisce Éireann through the list of priorities about which we spoke a minute ago. It might not be very high on that list of priorities. It will not be sustainable if it has to pay for all the water but it is not responsible if it does not have the capital funding available to fix the pipes where the 34% or 40% leakage is happening. Could the Minister of State explain to us whether Uisce Éireann will have that discretion and will it use it in the case of group water schemes?