Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Before I begin, I wish to inform the House that I will table an amendment to section 2 of this Bill on Report Stage. I previously indicated that the amendment would be introduced in the Seanad so I wanted to update Members on this change. The amendment was discussed in detail in this House in the course of debates on the Bill and I believe it will be welcomed.

This section is important and I know the amendments tabled were put forward in the right spirit. The Government announcement in November simplified water charges, gave much needed clarity on the level of the charge and gave certainty that capped charges would remain in place until 1 January 2019. It is clear that the collection of PPS numbers was an unpopular issue with many people and caused concerns. Those concerns may have been unfounded or may have been well-founded but there is no point debating such matters now as there is no longer an issue. I listened to the concerns that people raised and the changes to this Bill resulted. The House broadly welcomes these changes although there are some issues relating to the process and timelines that we are now discussing.

The new simplified system means PPS numbers no longer need to be collected. Section 11 of the Bill provides that Irish Water will no longer have the power to request details of PPS numbers. The section will be commenced by the Minister for Social Protection following consultation with me, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

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In the meantime, Irish Water has commenced work on deleting the personal public service data which had been collected up to this point. Irish Water has stated that the deletion is being carried out in accordance with a protocol the company has developed in consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner. There is information on the Data Protection Commissioner's website, including a summary and a further document on the matter. I will put copies of these in the library, making them available to Members. They summarise in considerable detail the process, the protocol and how it works. Any Member can go through them if they so wish.

The exercise will take several months to complete. It is a rather technical exercise and it is important that it is carried out properly. Reference was made to time limits, restrictions and being prescriptive about it, but I will not accept the amendments put down by Deputies Donnelly, Cowen and Murphy, although I understand and accept the premise on which they are based.

This is a technical exercise. I have some experience in this area. In a previous life I worked in roles that involved mass data management. This technical exercise will be undertaken by Irish Water. It has to be done correctly. The most important thing is that it is done professionally and correctly in order that we will have closure on the issue. I would rather see it done that way than put down a prescribed time or try to live by something that is perhaps not achievable.

It is not only a question of the manner by which the PPS number data in Irish Water is cleaned up and gone through in the various workstreams, it is also important to ensure that all the data is cleaned up from various media including online, paper form, voicemail and so on. More important, once Irish Water has gone through the process, it is important that a rigorous analysis is carried out to ensure absolutely everything has been done and that takes some time.

I appeal to the Deputies who have tabled amendments to accept that this is the process. I understand the detail and why they put down the amendments but bringing in the relevant section on day one was the right thing to do. There is now a protocol in place between Irish Water and the Data Protection Commissioner and I believe this is the appropriate way in which this should be done.

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