Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1018. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way in which the installation of water meters and or water boxes is funded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11955/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels, pursuant to Section 7 of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 which provided for the transfer to Irish Water of all water services functions conferred on the county and city councils by the Water Services Act 2007. Section 32 of the 2007 Act sets out responsibilities in respect of general water services functions and includes the installation and maintenance of meters.

Irish Water has produced Standard Details and a Code of Practice which outlines acceptable design and construction practices for contractors which must be adhered to, in order to connect to Irish Water infrastructure.

I am advised by Irish Water that according to this Code of Practice all new housing developments, that are currently being completed by contractors or developers, are required to have a meter-ready boundary box installed and are therefore funded by the contractors or developers. Before the establishment of Irish Water, local authorities also applied this requirement. This applies to new houses; houses where the refurbishment requires planning permission; and apartment blocks which will be fitted with bulk meters. These pre-installed meter-ready boundary boxes will enable Irish Water to fit meters in developments in a planned programme of works, consistent with recommendations made in the 2017 Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Water Services (JOCFFDWS), to allow for effective leak detection and conservation.

For one-off houses or premises which may be a domestic or non-domestic property that is connecting to the Irish Water network, Irish Water or its agents will install the boundary box as part of providing the physical connection in accordance with IW Standard Details and Guides to Connect; the cost of this is covered by the connection charge payable by the customer on request of a connection.

The water meters required for new connections, for both domestic and non-domestic customers, are installed by Irish Water or its agents including local authorities and are funded via the connection charge payable to IW. Where local authorities are acting on behalf of Irish Water funding is provided by Irish Water under the SLA.