Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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593. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the section and subsection of legislation that sanctions the use of certain data sources by Irish Water to issue water bills; and if he will provide the complete list of these data sources as provided by legislation. [18509/15]

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. 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 Residential 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. An Post and Approved Housing Bodies were prescribed as relevant persons in March 2015.

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.