Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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112. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the cost of administering the water conservation grant; the number of households that have applied and received the grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6079/16]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department of Social Protection is administering the Water Conservation Grant on behalf of the Department of Environment, Community, and Local Government. As of 4 April 2016, a total of 889,498 grant applications have been submitted by householders and processed. The administration and payment of this grant is a significant project for the Department and required the development and implementation of ICT systems, ICT infrastructure and various customer support and communications services.

The total administration costs to the 31st December 2015 are €5,782,035.42. These include both the once-off setup costs and the operational costs for 2015. Some further operational costs, mainly for a relatively low number of staff in 2016, and therefore comparatively small, are yet to be calculated.

All costs in relation to the set-up and administration of the Water Conservation Grant are being recouped from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in line with existing procedures in this regard. Every effort is being made to maximise efficiencies and keep costs to the absolute minimum. In this regard, the Department is reusing existing payment production systems to facilitate payment of the grant. It is also intended that the ICT infrastructure put in place for this project will be reused for the provision of online services in the future.