Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 October 2014
207. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the legal protections that are in place to ensure that Irish Water does not sell or compromise persons' personal public service numbers. [38344/14]
View answer208. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if personal public service numbers are transferred from a relevant person or State body to Irish Water, from where and the means by which Irish Water gained consent for that transfer; and if explicit consent was not given for this data exchange if he will outline the criteria Irish Water is using to obtain this data. [38378/14]
View answer209. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government who is now storing personal data on behalf of Irish Water. [38379/14]
View answer210. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if Irish Water will be requesting personal data, including personal public service numbers, from the Private Residential Tenancy Board to trace tenants to their new addresses should they vacate a property and not pay their water charges. [38380/14]
View answer211. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the assurances Irish Water will provide that the transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area will only be made to the EU commission's approved list of countries that provide an adequate standard of data protection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38381/14]
View answer215. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the reason Irish citizens must entrust their personal data to Irish Water (details supplied); the reason citizens of this State should commit their personal data to an organisation with no independently verified information security system. [38345/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 207 to 211, inclusive, and 215 together.
Under the Water Services Acts 2007-2013, Irish Water may request its customers and certain specified persons or bodies, including the Minister for Social Protection, to provide it with information so that it can perform its functions under these Acts. The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water is responsible for public water services and that it 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, the CER, which has been given statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers of Irish Water.
In advance of the introduction of domestic water charges, the Government made certain decisions on 6 May 2014 relating to the structure of water charges including, inter alia, a free allowance per household and an additional free allowance for children on the same qualifying conditions as the Child Benefit payment from the Department of Social Protection.
As these allowances are to be funded by Government, Irish Water needs to ensure it has the appropriate and sufficient information to reflect these entitlements. Irish Water is a specified body under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended by Section 20 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014, and is therefore permitted to request Personal Public Services (PPS) numbers to authenticate the identity of the person being provided with an allowance.
Irish Water will treat applicants’ personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003. In complying with these Acts, Irish Water must ensure that the data is only used for the purpose for which it was collected and must also ensure that any data collected is stored securely. The collection of PPS numbers allows Irish Water to confirm and validate the entitlement to allowances for each customer. This information will not be shared with any organisation other than the Department of Social Protection for the purpose of verification, to ensure that each household receives the allowances it is entitled to, be it the free allowance per household or any additional allowance for children in receipt of Child Benefit at that address. It will also allow Irish Water to provide lower charges to owners who have unoccupied dwellings. I understand that Irish Water and the Department of Social Protection are developing arrangements governing the sharing of PPS information. Any such arrangements will be subject to data protection requirements.
With charges effective from 1 October 2014 Irish Water is in the process of compiling the relevant data to ensure that customers can be billed accurately based on the tariff structure approved by the CER. Over the last number of weeks, Irish Water has been sending application packs to approximately 2 million households, which refer to the effective charging date and the fact that billing for domestic customers in receipt of public water services will start in January 2015. The application process will enable customers to confirm their details for billing and, by providing the relevant PPS numbers, claim the allowances that they are eligible for. Furthermore, Irish Water has advised my Department that it intends to initiate a further campaign after the 31 October deadline for return of application packs, to allow landlords provide proof that their property is occupied by a tenant and that they are not the occupant. Irish Water is currently working with the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) in relation to the arrangements for how this will be done.
Last week the CER made a determination on the water charges plan submitted to it by Irish Water, which sets out the position if customers do not validate their details. In these circumstances, a default charge which does not include the free allowances will be applied to such customers. The relevant details of the determination are available on the CER website ( www.cer.ie).
Irish Water has an ongoing engagement with the DPC and has advised my Department that it has been asked to provide clarity on some aspects of the legal language of its data protection notice as published on its website, www.water.ie. It has confirmed that this notice was, and is, fully compliant with data protection requirements. However, by providing additional clarity, it will reassure customers that data is held securely, used properly and not shared with third parties, except where necessary for the delivery of water services such as contractors repairing leaks. Any advice given to Irish Water from the DPC will be further incorporated into its data protection notice.
Irish Water has confirmed that all its systems have undergone extensive independent quality assurance testing. In addition, the DPC has worked closely with Irish Water to agree the process for the capture, storage and usage of customer data. Furthermore, Irish Water has also confirmed that no data will be stored outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), and that it will not sell any customer data. There may be limited instances where Irish Water might need to share information with third parties with whom it has service agreements for operational reasons, e.g. ICT support for systems maintenance, and this will be done under full compliance with all Data Protection requirements.
Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. They may be contacted via email at oireachtasmembers@water.ie or by telephone on 1890 278 278.
