Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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402. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of local authorities that had a water metering policy for new house builds prior to the establishment of Irish Water; the number of water meters installed by local authorities during that period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12832/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I refer to the reply to Question No. 403 on today’s Order Paper, which sets out the position in respect of attaching the condition of installation of a water meter to the planning permission for new houses.

Where a local authority decided to attach the condition of installation of a water meter to the planning permission for new houses this would have been at the sole discretion of the local authority in question.

Irish Water published a Code of Practice for Water Infrastructure (A design and construction guide for developers) in December 2016. The Code of Practice outlines acceptable typical design and construction guidance that is required by Irish Water for the provision of water supply pipes and related infrastructure which are to be connected to the Irish Water Network. It provides for general minimum requirements to apply to works in new developments including that all domestic connections shall have individually valve controlled metered services.

Prior to the commencement of the national metering programme, a survey was undertaken by local authorities which provided information on the number of meter boxes and meters which were in place at that time. Essentially, this survey identified properties that were suitable for metering and water meters were installed in line with the survey results as carried out by each Local Authority. Where water meters and meter boxes were installed in advance of the metering programme as a condition of planning, I understand that in some cases the planning authority only requested a meter box be installed, while in other cases the installation of a meter box and meter was required. Irish Water committed to reusing previously installed meter boxes where possible and over the course of the metering programme in excess of 125,000 meter boxes were reused by Irish Water.