I propose to take Questions Nos. 982 to 984, inclusive, and 1026 together.
Irish Water has sent 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. Irish Water has informed my Department that as of 31 October 2014, it had received some 811,000 responses and approximately 77% of these responses were to confirm as customers of Irish Water. M y Department does not have any information on the number of application packs that have been returned incorrectly completed or returned to sender. Irish Water has informed my Department it has no arrangements in place with An Post in this regard.
Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives and is contacting all Oireachtas members to provide details of an improved level of service which it is aiming to provide. The team can be contacted via email to oireachtasmembers@water.ie or by telephone on a new dedicated number, 1890 578 578.