COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

MOTION NO. 1

MOTION: Councillor G. O'Connell

Cathaoirleach's Business

"That this Committee considers it most unsatisfactory that, as the law stands, a householder with a foul sewer manhole in his/her property is responsible for getting the households who “feed” into the same service to contribute to the (now very considerable) costs of having the system unblocked when sewerage backs up and perhaps overflows onto the property.  In the absence of Government action (I have had a number of motions passed writing to successive Ministers without success) this Committee now calls on Management to bring forward a report on the matter and suggestions on how the present system can be improved and updated so that it removes the burden (of collecting the maintenance costs) from individuals."

REPORT:

As the law stands at the moment, it is the responsibility of the Local Authorities to maintain the public sewers which are usually laid  in public areas be they streets, footpaths or grassed areas and are usually of a bore greater than 6"/150 mm diameter. It is the responsibility of the householder to maintain the private drains which are of a smaller bore and are laid around houses in their front and back gardens. Most private drains have on average 6 houses linked to them before they are connected into the public sewers. It is therefore the responsibility of all six householders to share the cost of unblocking or flushing these private drains when there is a problem. A few years ago when the Council used to carry out work on private drains for a fee, we would insist that all householders should contribute towards the cost or the work was not undertaken. The Water Services Act 2007 makes it very clear who is responsible for the maintenance of both sewers and drains and thus the matter stands until such time as the law is changed by an act of the Dail. Maybe the setting up of Irish Water could present an opportunity for changing the law with regard to the definition of a sewer and a drain.