Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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224. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of revenue that Irish Water will collect next year net of all allowances. [42523/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Domestic water charges commenced with effect from 1 October 2014 and Irish Water will issue the first bills to domestic customers from January 2015. The approach to charging was outlined by Irish Water in a Water Charges Plan (WCP) submitted to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) in line with the provisions of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013.  The CER announced its decision on water charges on 30 September. The amount billed to domestic customers for the year 2015 based on the charging structure announced by the CER will be in the order of €300 million per annum and the amount billed to non-domestic customers will be some €230 million.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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225. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if Irish Water has refused requests from local authorities to attend at their meetings to brief county councillors on the processes and procedures being adopted by the company in their pursuit of the collection of charges for domestic water; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42529/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for public water services. At the request of my Department, Irish Water put in place specific arrangements to address the queries which public representatives may have in relation to matters pertaining to the operation of water services under the new utility. Irish Water has acknowledged that the level of service it has provided to public representatives needs to be improved and has apologised for any shortcomings that have arisen to date in terms of the timelines and quality of responses. Irish Water is currently reviewing its communications procedures with regard to engagement with local representatives and will advise on additional measures shortly.

Irish Water has informed my Department that so far it has received just over 5,000 queries from public representatives:

- 2,400 from Oireachtas Members – 1,700 via oireachtasmembers@water.ie and 700 by phone.

- A further 2,600 queries have been received from Local Councillors by email and phone.

Irish Water has informed my Department that it has just completed nine regional briefings for councillors at eight different locations around Ireland. All of the councillors were notified of the briefing which was closest to their local authority. In addition, an invitation was extended to all councillors for the briefing in Carrick-on-Shannon on 29 October 2014 .