Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of Irish Water. First, when will we have a referendum on its ownership? Second, the transfer of water services staff from county councils to Irish Water is proving very unpopular, and I believe the level of services that will be given will disimprove significantly. As Oireachtas Members, we have a system to make representations to Irish Water, and this is working extremely poorly. From overbilling to leak allowances to incorrect banding rates being applied to accounts, when we contact Irish Water its customer service is increasingly non-existent. I have two cases at the moment in which discussions were ongoing with Irish Water to correct billing mistakes for two separate households, and in the middle of the negotiations, Irish Water wrote to those constituents threatening legal action if their accounts were not settled. Irish Water has to improve its customer service. The level of service we are getting from it is not good enough as regards representations.

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