Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government recently announced a more modest and affordable system for water charges. As part of this package, the Department of Social Protection will administer a new water conservation grant of €100. Arising from the revised charge structure which is simpler and more affordable, Irish Water will no longer require PPS numbers. As a consequence, there will no longer be a need for Irish Water to be listed as a specific body in Schedule 5 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 for the purpose of using PPS numbers. Therefore, the only time householders will have to provide their PPS numbers is when registering for the €100 water conservation grant to the Department which is the official agency that issues the PPS numbers. This will allay many of the concerns that have been expressed on this matter.