Irish Water is still in talks with five local authorities to allow contractors, hired by the utility company, access to their areas to "find and fix" leaks, as the water supply remains at critical levels because of drought and with up 50pc of supply leaking from the system.
While Irish Water has reached agreement with 26 local authorities to allow its crews to work alongside local authority staff, the utility told the Sunday Independent it is "still engaging" with local authorities in Mayo, Waterford, Wexford, Longford and Kilkenny to "get crews mobilised".
"When you bring in contractual resources, from a health and safety point of view and from an operational point of view, what you want is that local authority staff and the contracted staff are going to work in harmony," said a source.
"To bring in contractors requires a lot of discussion to ensure that when they do come in, things go smoothly.
We are quite happy to take that route.
Irish Water’s attempts to negotiate smooth access to local authority areas for their "find and fix" fleet comes at a sensitive time for the company, both in terms of water supply, which came to critically low levels as a result of drought, and in terms of its future.
The Government plans to separate Irish Water from its parent company Ervia to make it a single independent utility.
The utility claimed making the documents public could have a "significant, adverse impact" on those negotiations.
In a statement to the Sunday Independent, Irish Water said: "Irish Water works closely with our partners in local authorities to secure safe clean drinking water.
Local authorities appreciated the impact of drought on their homes and businesses in their communities and were fully supportive of activities and works in areas prioritised by Irish Water for leakage management."