Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1004. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the source of the data which enabled Irish Water to send correctly named and addressed application packs to citizens; the data in question; and if passing the data to Irish Water is contrary to section 2 of the Data Protection Act. [41269/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Under the Water Services Acts 2007-2013, Irish Water has statutory powers to request its customers and certain specified persons or bodies to provide it with information so that Irish Water can perform its functions under these Acts including the collection of data to develop its customer database. In particular, section 26 of the Water Services Act 2013 provides Irish Water with the power to obtain information on its customers from other third parties as listed in the section, including a local authority, the Revenue Commissioners, the Private Rented Tenancies Board, the Property Services Regulatory Authority, the Local Government Management Agency, the Minister for Social Protection or any other person or body to be prescribed by the Minister.

Irish Water is required to manage all personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003. Irish Water has an on-going engagement with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner which has worked closely with Irish Water to agree the process for the capture, storage and usage of customer data.