Hi maireadf,

Thanks for your message.



would you mind sending the below details via PM and we can look into this for you:

- Name;
- Address;
- Contact number;
- Application reference number; and
- And additional details in relation to the application.

Thanks in advance,
Allanah

Allanah it's been nearly 6 weeks since I asked and not only do I not have an answer, now my PMs are being ignored too.

Bad form.

Hi DrPhilG,


We're very sorry to hear this and would like to assure you that we are following up on this matter for you.

A member of our team will be in touch via PM as soon as possible with an update.

Kind regards,
Mairead

Heads up to people seeking new connections and particularly self-builders

+1 this post if you feel the same

My experience is that the Irish Water guidance, documentation, and videos around the connection process are inaccurate, insufficient and ambiguous.

Reading the documentation will leave a customer with one vision of what will happen but the reality is entirely different.

So take a very simple scenario;
 - A new build house on a corner site of an existing housing estate;
 - With a water main already located in the footpath outside the new house;
 - You have completed works within and up to your boundary and have a pipe ready to connect to the mains located beside your boundary.
 - You paid your Irish Water fee which includes a "Works Fee" and an "Infrastructure Fee"

You may be under the impression (based on Irish Water guidance) that once you have completed the application process and paid your fee that Irish Water together with their agents will work to connect you to the water supply.

WRONG!!!

- You must now obtain a road opening licence!;
- Not so bad?  - You can't get one of these unless you have insurance in place and have completed 3 days of mandatory training;
- You probably already have the insurance given that you are building a house;
- Either way the training and licence will cost you €1,000 if you do it yourself;
- So you must now employ an insured contractor do dig a hole in the path for you €€€
- Irish water will then show up and plug in a meter in 10 minutes!! 

Value for money eh!

So how did I get it all so wrong???

Well......


Watch the Irish Water video, linked below, for a laugh..


https://www.water.ie/connections/information/

"We will design and make the connection" they say and look at the graphic that goes with it    

Confusing? Misleading?


Check out the "Connection Assets and Responsibilities" on page 9 of the "Guide to Connect"

https://www.water.ie/c...ic-02_NT-changes.pdf

Check out the diagrams - customer responsible for everything up to 225mm outside your boundary it seems!? - That's not all!! (there's more )

Confusing? Misleading?


Check out Section 5 of Irish Water's "Guide to Connect"

5".1 Physical connection Having received the acceptance requirements and processed your payment, Irish Water will contact you to agree a mutually suitable time for the provision of the physical connection...." 


Not really true!!  


Yes, Irish water's service description and contract documentation is nothing short of misleading at best, 
and yes Mr/Mrs customer and tax payer, you will pick up an extra bill €€ for it, 
and you will pay your planning permission fees, 
and you will engage a private contractor to dig a hole in the road, 
and you will pay for a licence to dig that whole in the road, a
nd you will pay for Irish water to contract the Local Authority to come and have a look into that hole in the road 
and then if you are really lucky this good State of ours through its Semi-state bodies and agents might just well connect that little water pie to that big water pipe, 
and you will rejoice 

Hi, I'm looking at buying a house which had its water disconnected as it is a receiver sale, would there be a full connection charge or what would it cost to connect back?

Thanks

Hi Mickiemcfist,

We would recommend that you call our New Connections Department on 1850 278 278 and a member of the team will be able to help. Our New Connections department is open between 9am-5:30pm from Monday to Friday.

Kind regards,
Niamh

Hi, we are looking to extend our terraced house to the rear but would first need to divert the drain in order to get planning permission.

Can you please give an idea of the fixed costs Irish water will charge for this in addition to the fee charged by our builder? I read Irish Water need to supervise the work but there's no mention of costs involved.

Thanks

Hi Old Gill,

Thanks for getting in touch.

You can see more on our connection charges here, however cost is determined on a case by case basis.

You can see more on our connections process on our website.

Thanks,
Mairead

Hi, 

We are in the process of building a house in a private estate. We were sold the site as fully serviced and there is a manhole on our site for sewer connection and a pipe I assume leads to the watermain in the road. As these connections were carried out when the site was initially developed 20+ years ago and under local county council control (prior to Irish water) is there anything we need to do with Irish Water right now. No water meters have been installed in any of the other houses in the estate but will we need to install a meter? The connection to the sewer system seems to be fine and I can only assume as it is connected there is no need to apply for a connection. 

Thanks for any help in this matter.

Hi chippey,

Thanks for your query.

We are currently looking into this for you, once we receive more information on this, we will be in touch.

In the meantime, thank you for your patience.

Thanks,
Agata

Hi Chippey,


We have received an update and we recommend you send your query to operations@water.ie or call us on 1850 278 278 and a member of the team can assist you further.

Thanks,
Mairead

Hi folks,

I want to get our house connected which is probably around 300m from the nearest mains connection but we need a ballpark figure first. It was always on a well and is probably nearly 100 years old. 

Trying to fill out the pre-connection enquiry form and you need a location map and a layout map and "invert level of connection supplies". Where does one get these maps you want and what is an "invert level of connection point" and how do I get that please

Hi Dan,

Thank you for getting in touch.

You can get ordinance survey maps from your Local Authority.

I'm currently following up on the rest of your query with our New Connections Team and as soon as I have further information for you I will be in touch.

Thanks,
Daniel

Hi Dan,

I have received an update from our New Connections Team in relation to your query. They have advised to contact the Planning Department of your Local Authority and they will be able to provide the information requested.

Thanks,
Daniel

Hi, I paid my connection fee and sent back the form but haven't heard anything since.