Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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308. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department will carry out an audit on the response times between Irish Water and local authorities; if his Department will carry out an audit on response times to the public representative line; if an audit will be carried out on the reasons for the long delays in obtaining updates from Irish Water; the reasons for such poor communication between the two bodies and public representatives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52990/22]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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309. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on the number of outstanding representations between Irish Water and Tipperary County Council; the reasons for the inability of Irish Water to obtain updates from Tipperary County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52992/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 308 and 309 together.

Since 1 January 2014 Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of the planning, delivery and operation of water and wastewater services at national, regional and local levels.

The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water sector is assigned to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities or CRU. A key aspect of the CRU’s regulatory role is to ensure that Irish Water's approach to the management and delivery of water services is counter-balanced appropriately to take account of the best interests of its customers.

To facilitate this, the CRU has put a Performance Assessment Framework in place against which it monitors Irish Water’s performance and progress over time. This Framework currently includes 28 metrics covering customer service, security of supply, quality of supply, sewer incidents, environmental performance, and energy and emissions. This arrangement is in place to ensure that Irish Water performs to a high standard, keeps the public and other key stakeholders informed of its performance, and supports the CRU in making evidence-based decisions in the interests of customers.

In addition to the above, section 8 of the Water Services Act 2014 makes provision for the CRU to provide a dispute resolution service for any unresolved complaints of customers of Irish Water. Further information on pursuing complaints with Irish Water or with the CRU is available on the website of the CRU and can be accessed from the following weblink - www.cru.ie/home/complaint-form/water/.

As will be clear from the above, neither I nor my Department has a role in relation to matters raised in the question which are operational matters for Irish Water in the first instance, or, where a satisfactory outcome is not forthcoming, for the CRU in its capacity as independent economic regulator.

I have brought the matters raised to the attention of Irish Water, and I understand that it will respond directly to the Deputy in relation to his concerns.