Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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262. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm that County Leitrim has the most group water schemes supplied by the local authoritys public mains per head of capita in this country; if his Department has alongside Irish Water adopted any strategy towards the advancement of a policy by local authorities of taking in charge these schemes coupled with consideration of a particular policy for same. [21166/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Responsibility for the administration of the Rural Water Programme, under which funding may be provided towards the connection of group water schemes to local authority public mains and towards the takeover of group water schemes by local authorities, has been devolved to local authorities since 1997.

The selection and approval of individual scheme proposals for advancement and funding under the programme, within the overall priorities set by my Department and subject to the block grant allocations provided, is therefore a matter for the water services authorities. The provision of Information on the number of group water schemes supplied from local authority public mains would, accordingly, be a matter for individual local authorities.

Under the Water Sector Reform Programme the primary focus of Irish Water will be on the delivery of services to customers on the public water and wastewater networks. My Department will remain responsible for the overall policy and funding of the non-public sector, including the group water sector.

In order to facilitate the establishment of a new public water utility to take over responsibility for the delivery of water services, a number of work-streams have been set up under the Water Sector Reform Programme to assist with the transition of services to Irish Water. One such work-stream is dealing specifically with issues relating to the Group Water Sector. The objectives of this work-stream are to ensure that there is clarity of roles and responsibility for the group water sector and other components of the Rural Water Programme and to develop a medium term strategy for the sector.