Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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1627. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if voluntary committees such as those that run local community halls are exempt from water charges; and his plans to introduce measures to ease the burden on such groups. [35167/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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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 shall collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services provided by it. The Act also provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water sector is assigned to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and the CER has been given statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers. 

From 2001, national water pricing policy required local authorities to recover the costs of providing water services from all non-domestic users of these services. This policy provided for charges based on actual metered consumption and is consistent with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.  Non-domestic customers, connected to a public water supply, are liable for charges. It should be noted that the existing tariffs for all non-domestic customers are remaining in place with no changes for the time being.

The CER is progressing a review of all aspects of non-domestic water tariffs and in conjunction with Irish Water will establish an enduring non-domestic tariff framework. The CER has recently published an information note informing customers and interested parties about the project and will shortly engage in a period of public consultation on the enduring tariff framework for non-domestic water and or wastewater customers of Irish Water.