Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 May 2015
462. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if Directive 95/46/EC, in particular those principles outlined in Article 6, was deemed to be compatible with the legislation allowing third parties share data with Irish Water. [19199/15]
View answerUnder the Water Services Acts 2007-2013, Irish Water has statutory powers to request its customers and certain specified persons or bodies to provide it with information so that Irish Water can perform its functions under these Acts including the collection of data to develop its customer database. In particular, section 26 of the Water Services Act 2013 provides Irish Water with the power to obtain information on its customers from other third parties as listed in the section. This legislation is in full compliance with Article 6 of Directive 95/46/EC. Furthermore, Irish Water is required to manage all personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003. Irish Water has an on-going engagement with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner which has worked closely with Irish Water to agree the process for the capture, storage and usage of customer data.
