Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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537. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reason the process of requesting PPS numbers on water charge registration forms is in place; his views that this is an unusual practice in view of the fact that private information such as PPS numbers is not generally requested when companies are charging for services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37863/14]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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550. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in view of a large number of foreign students attending colleges in the summer who may not have a personal public service number, the way Irish Water will deal with management companies of student accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38073/14]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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561. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the specific statutory basis for the request by Irish Water for PPS numbers and bank details from their customers; if persons are obliged to provide their PPS number to Irish Water; if persons are obliged to provide their bank details to Irish Water; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38157/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 537, 550 and 561 together.

Under the Water Services Acts 2007-2013, Irish Water may request its customers and certain specified persons or bodies, including the Minister for Social Protection, to provide it with information so that it can perform its functions under these Acts. The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water is responsible for public water services and that it shall collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services provided by it. The Act also provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water sector is assigned to the Commission for Energy Regulation, the CER, which has been given statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers of Irish Water.

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 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. 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 Personal Public Services (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. In complying with these Acts, Irish Water must ensure that the data are only used for the purpose collected and must also ensure that any data collected are stored securely. The collection of PPS numbers allows Irish Water to confirm and validate the entitlement to allowances for each customer. This information will not be shared with any organisation other than the Department of Social Protection for the purpose of verification, to ensure that each household receives the allowances it is entitled to, be it the free allowance per household or any additional allowance for children in receipt of Child Benefit at that address. It will also allow Irish Water to provide lower charges to owners who have unoccupied dwellings.

With charges effective from 1 October 2014 Irish Water is in the process of compiling the relevant data to ensure that customers can be billed accurately based on the tariff structure approved by the CER. Throughout the last number of weeks , Irish Water has been sending application packs to approximately 2 million households, which refer to the effective charging date and the fact that billing for domestic customers in receipt of public water services will start in January 2015. The application process will enable customers to confirm their details for billing and, by providing the relevant PPS numbers, claim the allowances that they are eligible for.

Last week the CER made a determination on the water charges plan, submitted to it by Irish Water, which sets out the position if customers do not validate their details. In these circumstances, a default charge which does not include the free allowances will be applied to such customers. The relevant details of the determination are available on the CER website ().

Irish Water has an ongoing engagement with the Data Protection Commissioner and has advised my Department that it has been asked to provide clarity on some aspects of the legal language of its data protection notice as published on its website, . It has confirmed that this notice was, and is, fully compliant with data protection requirements. However, by providing additional clarity, it will re-assure customers that data are held securely, used properly and not shared with third parties, except where necessary for the delivery of water services such as contractors repairing leaks. Any advice given to Irish Water from the Data Protection Commissioner will be further incorporated into its data protection notice.

Customers wishing to avail of the direct debit payment facility can do so by providing Irish Water with bank details on the application form. This is optional for customers and in its customer handbook Irish Water has outlined several other methods of payment that will be available to its customers.

Management companies of student accommodation and businesses such as summer colleges are already categorised as non-domestic customers for water services. Local authorities, acting as agents of Irish Water, continue to bill such companies who recover this cost via the rent/fees charged for the accommodation, as is the case with other utility bills.

Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. They may be contacted via email at or by telephone on 1890 278 278.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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539. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the way Irish Water intends to bill persons who have received forms addressed to persons no longer resident at that address. [37891/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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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.

There is currently no database of customers connected to the public water system and Irish Water is in the process of developing such a database. They have recently sent over 2 million customer validation packs to homes for the purpose of, inter alia, minimising the occurrence of the issue raised in the Question. Customers are requested to confirm their details so that correct bills can issue to households in early 2015. Where the pack is addressed to a previous occupier of an address, Irish Water are asking the current occupiers to contact them at the dedicated telephone number of 1890 448 448 and a new pack will be issued in the name of the current occupier of the address.

  Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. They may be contacted via email at or by telephone on 1890 278 278.