Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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534. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if allowances will be provided for each parent in cases of separation and divorce in view of the sharing of parental responsibilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45336/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for public water services. The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water can collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services provided by it.

Capped annual charges are set at a rate of €160 for single adult households and €260 for all other households until end 2018, with all eligible households entitled to receive a water conservation grant of €100 per year. In the case of primary dwellings registered with Irish Water and where a meter is installed, a Children’s Water Allowance of 21,000 litres per annum will be provided in respect of each resident child under the age of 18 (irrespective of whether the child qualifies for Child Benefit). This allowance will be in respect of the residence where the child in normally resident and will only be claimable once in respect of an individual child. For unmetered dwellings with children, the capped charge to apply is based on the number of adults in a house (i.e. a single adult dwelling or a multi-adult dwelling).

If a dwelling is metered after 1 January 2015 and if a household’s usage for the first metered year is less than the relevant capped charge, the household will be due a once-off rebate on the difference between the charges paid for the unmetered period and the charge that would have been paid through metered usage. This will be automatically calculated by Irish Water after a full year of metered usage and normally applied as a once-off credit to the customer’s account.

It is not intended that the forthcoming legislation to reflect the new capped charges will alter the arrangements already approved by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) which would permit the registered occupier to provide approval to Irish Water to transfer of the child’s water allowance, in certain circumstances.