Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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241. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has sought a report from Irish Water regarding a matter (details supplied) in County Dublin as per his powers under the Water Services Acts; if not, if he intends to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61548/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 in accordance with Section 7 of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013. The day-to-day operation of the public water system, including the arrangements for dealing with unforeseen outages, and communicating with customers and public representatives in relation to interruptions to service delivery, is therefore a matter for Irish Water.  

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 (CRU) which has statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers.

A key aspect of the CRU’s regulatory role is to ensure that Irish Water’s revenue is spent appropriately to improve services for 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 the matter raised in the question which is an operational matter 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.

It may be of assistance to note that Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via email to oireachtasmembers@water.ieor by telephone on a dedicated number, 1818 578 578.