Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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147. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm or deny that over half a million persons will have no out-of-hours services to deal with water and sewerage urgencies despite the fact that he is putting a charge on persons for such services from October; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27696/14]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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148. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the steps which are being taken by Irish Water to establish an out-of-hours service in counties Leitrim and Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27700/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 148 together.

Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. This includes the provision of an out-of-hours service to deal with water and sewerage emergencies and contingencies. Irish Water is now responsible for customer operational calls, and deals with emergencies as they arise in any local authority area. Irish Water is working to develop consistent arrangements across the 31 local authorities with which it has service level agreements. I understand from Irish Water that twenty five local authorities have specific out-of-hours service arrangements, but arrangements are more informal in remaining authorities for dealing with out of hours matters. Irish Water is working with these authorities (Galway County, Laois, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wicklow and Leitrim) to put in place appropriate cover as it moves towards a national consistent service.

Any queries or issues in relation to water supply can be reported directly to Irish Water at all times. Members of the public can contact Irish Water by phone on 1890 278 278 (this service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) or by email to customerservice@water.ie. Full contact details for Irish Water are available on its website at www.water.ie. Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that it has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via an email to oireachtasmembers@water.ieor by telephone on 1890 278 278.