Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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200. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to public concern about the collection of personal data by Irish Water; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this data can be stored outside the EEA, and particularly that Irish Water may disclose this data to a third party and may even sell it as an asset; if he will raise these concerns with the Data Protection Commissioner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36131/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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In advance of the introduction of domestic water charges, the Government made certain decisions on 6 May 2014 relating to the structure of water charges including, inter alia, a free allowance per household in its primary residence and an additional free allowance for children on the same qualifying conditions as the Child Benefit payment from the Department of Social Protection.

As these allowances are to be funded by Government, Irish Water needs to ensure it has the appropriate and sufficient information to reflect these entitlements. The Personal Public Services (PPS) numbers will be used by Irish Water to ensure that each household receives the free allowance it is entitled to, as well as any additional allowance for children in receipt of Child Benefit at that address. It will also facilitate Irish Water in providing reduced charges to owners who have unoccupied dwellings.

Irish Water is a specified body under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended by Section 20 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014, and is therefore permitted to request PPS numbers to authenticate the identity of the person being provided with an allowance. Irish Water will treat applicants’ personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003. Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that its data protection notice is fully compliant with Data Protection requirements and that it is in regular contact with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure this is the case. Irish Water has also confirmed that no data will be stored outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), and Irish Water will not sell any customer data. There may be limited instances where Irish Water might need to share information with third parties with whom it has service agreements for operational reasons, e.g. ICT support for systems maintenance, and this will be done under full compliance with all Data Protection requirements.