John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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528. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to set out his views on whether the recent data protection breach in Irish Water is unacceptable; his further views on whether this should be the final nail in the coffin of Irish Water; the right the company had to request a person's individual PPS number in view of the fact that no other utility provider here operates using a PPS number system; the authority under which the personal information pertaining to individual homeowners was made available to Irish Water; his views on whether the movement in the country against the implementation of water charges is growing to such a level that can no longer be ignored by the Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46024/14]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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529. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to set out the position regarding the amount of water charges that will be levied in respect of a second property a person may own and which is unoccupied; his views on whether these charges are fair in view of the new charges that apply to principal private dwellings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46031/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 528 and 529 together.

The Government has embarked on a programme of ambitious reform of the water sector, as the traditional water services system was in need of fundamental change. Our public water infrastructure is deficient and inadequate as a consequence of decades of under-investment and the lack of a truly, national approach that could maximise the impact of investment.

An Independent Assessment published in 2012 reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the delivery of water services through 34 local authorities, and concluded that there was a fragmentation of leadership and co-ordination, difficulty in attaining economies of scale, difficulty in delivering projects of national importance and an aging and poor quality network. The report concluded that the best way of ensuring increasing efficiency and effectiveness of operations and capital investment and accessing new finances for the water sector, was to establish Irish Water as a public utility. This was implemented through the Water Services Act 2013, which provided for the establishment of Irish Water, and the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013, which provided for the transfer of responsibility for water services provision from the local authorities to Irish Water. The transfer of responsibility took effect on 1 January 2014.

In advance of the introduction of water charges, Irish Water sent application packs to approximately 2 million households. The objective of the application process was to enable customers to confirm their details for billing and relevant PPS numbers were requested in order for customers to claim the allowances that they were eligible for.

On 19 November 2014, the Government decided on the introduction of a number of measures in relation to a revised approach to water charges. This was done to provide clarity and certainty and ensure that water charges are affordable for customers. As the new arrangements are based on self-declaration and appropriate audit, PPS numbers will no longer be required by Irish Water. In compliance with the requirements of the Data Protection Acts, Irish Water will delete PPS data already collected during the customer registration process to protect customers’ data. Irish Water has developed a protocol in consultation with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to address this data deletion exercise.

A minimum charge of €125 per year will apply for dwellings that are not permanently occupied which are using both water supply and waste water services. The minimum charge for dwellings connected to a single service will be €62.50 per year. This applies to metered and unmetered dwellings. Such dwellings with meters installed will pay €3.70 per 1,000 litres for usage above the equivalent usage for the minimum charge. A cap of €260 per annum for such dwellings will apply.