107.— The Act of 1992 is amended—

(a) by substituting the following for section 58:

“Drinking water.

58.— (1) The Agency may request a water services authority to submit to it in such manner and at such times as it may direct, such information as the Agency may specify in relation to the management and treatment, and the monitoring of compliance with prescribed quality standards and other parametric values, of water intended for human consumption.

(2) The Agency shall arrange for, carry out or cause to be carried out, such inspection, auditing or monitoring as it considers necessary to verify information (including monitoring results) transmitted to it under subsection (1).

(3) The Agency shall, in relation to each year, prepare and submit to the Minister a report on—

(a) the monitoring, together with an assessment of the results, referred to in subsection (1) or (2), and

(b) the implementation by the Agency of section 58A,

and the report shall include such recommendations as seem to it to be appropriate.

(4) Each report under subsection (3) shall be laid by the Minister before each House of the Oireachtas and shall be published by the Agency.

(5) In this section and section 58A ‘parametric values’ and ‘water services authority’ have the meanings assigned to them, respectively, in section 2 of the Water Services Act 2007.

Performance by water services authorities of statutory functions in relation to drinking water.

58A.— (1) Notwithstanding section 30 of the Water Services Act 2007, the Agency shall—

(a) monitor compliance with prescribed water quality standards and other parametric values of water supplied by or on behalf of a water services authority for human consumption, and

(b) be responsible for enforcement of compliance with such standards.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), and with a view to achieving the satisfactory compliance with relevant prescribed water quality standards and other parametric values of water intended for human consumption supplied by the water services authority concerned, the Agency may, having exercised its powers under subsection (1) or (2) of section 58 and considered any information furnished to, or otherwise coming into its possession in consequence of that exercise, do all or any of the following:

(a) issue such advice, directions or recommendations to the water services authority, as it considers necessary;

(b) provide, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed, such assistance, support or guidance as the Agency considers, after consultation with the water services authority, would be helpful.

(3) (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, where the Agency is of the opinion in respect of water for human consumption supplied by or on behalf of a water services authority that—

(i) there has been a breach of prescribed water quality standards or other parametric values,

(ii) the water contains a substance or micro-organism for which no water quality standard exists, or

(iii) a standard of efficiency of related disinfection equipment exists,

that constitutes, or may constitute, a risk to public health, then the Agency may issue such direction to the relevant water services authority as it considers necessary to ensure that appropriate measures are taken for the purposes of preventing, limiting, eliminating or abating such risk.

(b) A water services authority shall comply with any direction to it under paragraph (a).

(4) (a) Where the Agency, having reviewed the information—

(i) submitted to it in accordance with section 58(1), or

(ii) obtained during the course of inspection, auditing or monitoring carried out under section 58(2),

is of the opinion that a water services authority has failed adequately to carry out monitoring of its water supplies or related distribution networks, then the Agency shall direct the water services authority to arrange for such monitoring to be carried out adequately.

(b) A water services authority shall comply with any direction to it under paragraph (a).

(5) Where a water services authority fails to comply with a direction issued under subsection (2), (3) or (4), the Agency may arrange, carry out or cause to be carried out such action as it considers necessary to ensure compliance with the direction. The costs of such action may be recovered by the Agency from the water services authority concerned as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(6) A water services authority commits an offence if—

(a) it fails to comply with a request under section 58(1), or

(b) it fails to comply with a direction under subsection (2), (3) or (4).

(7) The Agency may apply to the High Court in a summary manner for an order against a water services authority to direct compliance with a request under section 58(1), or a direction under subsection (3), and the Court may grant such order as it considers appropriate.”,

(b) in section 59 by inserting the following after subsection (8):

“(9) In this section a reference to a sanitary authority shall be construed, subject to the discretion of the Minister in relation to regulations under subsection (5), as including a reference to any person acting on behalf of or jointly with a sanitary authority.”,

(c) in section 60 by inserting the following after subsection (2):

“(3) In this section, a reference to a sanitary authority shall be construed as including a reference to any person acting on behalf of or jointly with a sanitary authority.”,

(d) in section 61 by inserting the following after subsection (3):

“(4) In this section, a reference to a sanitary authority shall be construed as including a reference to any person acting on behalf of or jointly with a sanitary authority.”,

and

(e) in Part IV (inserted by section 15 of the Protection of the Environment Act 2003)—

(i) in section 84(1)—

(I) by deleting “or” in paragraph (b) and by substituting “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959, or” for “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959,” in paragraph (c), and

(II) by inserting the following after paragraph (c):

“(d) section 63 or 81 of the Water Services Act 2007.”,

(ii) in section 84(2)—

(I) by deleting “or” in paragraph (b) and by substituting “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959, or” for “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959,” in paragraph (c), and

(II) by inserting the following after paragraph (c):

“(d) section 63 or 81 of the Water Services Act 2007,”,

(iii) in section 87 by deleting subsection (10) and substituting the following:

“(10) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), a person shall not, by application for judicial review or in any other legal proceedings whatsoever, question the validity of a decision of the Agency to grant or refuse a licence or revised licence (including a decision of it to grant or not to grant such a licence on foot of a review conducted by it of its own volition) unless the proceedings are instituted within the period of 8 weeks beginning on the date on which the licence or revised licence is granted or the date on which the decision to refuse or not to grant the licence or revised licence is made.

(b) Where, on application to the High Court, the Court considers that in the particular circumstances there is good and sufficient reason for doing so, the Court may extend the period referred to in paragraph (a).”,

(iv) in section 99B(1)(a)—

(I) by deleting “or” in subparagraph (ii) and by substituting “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959, or” for “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959,” in subparagraph (iii), and

(II) by inserting the following after subparagraph (iii):

“(iv) section 63 or 81 of the Water Services Act 2007,”,

(v) in section 99E by inserting the following after subsection (5):

“(6) In this section, a reference to a sanitary authority shall be construed as including a reference to any person acting on behalf of or jointly with a sanitary authority.”,

and

(vi) in section 99G(1)—

(I) by deleting “or” in subparagraph (b) and by substituting “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959, or” for “the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959,” in paragraph (c), and

(II) by inserting the following after paragraph (c):

“(d) section 63 or 81 of the Water Services Act 2007,”.