Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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116. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the policy of Meath County Council of withholding housing from those on the housing waiting list who have not been able to pay their water charges. [18919/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under Section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, a household is ineligible for social housing support where the household is in arrears of rent, rent contributions, charges, fees or loan repayments, or any other moneysowing to a housing authority in the previous three years for an accumulated period of 12 weeks or more, and has not entered into a repayment arrangement with the housing authority.

In relation to water charges which are owed to Irish Water, the Water Services Acts 2007-2013 provide that 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. These include the collection of data to develop its customer database. 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. As such, Irish Water cannot share details in relation to non-payment of water charges with landlords, including any housing authority.

I understand that where an existing tenant of Meath County Council applies to transfer to another dwelling in accordance with that Council’s transfer policy as set out in its allocation scheme, one of the requirements is that all service and other charges are paid and up to date. The tenant is required to submit confirmation of same when submitting the application. The assessment of such transfer applications is a matter for the local authority concerned in accordance with its allocation scheme.