Irish Water Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 November 2014

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Ceisteanna (1070)

Clare Daly

Ceist:

1070. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to explain the reason the Irish Water website has no landline listed under contact details, but solely mentions a 1890 number, while the application pack includes a landline but listed as a number for international callers to use, given that most telephone users and mobile networks offer callers free calls to all landlines as part of their package, and that the failure to have clear landline displayed is costing citizens excessive and unwarranted telephone charges; and his plans to address this issue. [42240/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

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. Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. They may be contacted via email at [e-mail] or by telephone on 1890 578 578.

In this instance, I have raised the issue concerned directly with Irish Water. I have been informed that Irish Water adopted “1890” phone numbers as it considered that they strike a reasonable balance on contact cost between that incurred by the customer and that incurred by the utility. Irish Water’s remit is to discharge its service obligations within the operating cost framework approved by the Commission for Energy Regulation; the utility’s 1890 channels are consistent with this objective.

The Irish Water website lists two contact numbers (an “1890” and a “01” number) which can be found by following the “Contact Us” link at https://www.water.ie/help-centre/contact-us/.

However, Irish Water has undertaken to amend the website to make it clearer to the public that the “01” landline number is also available for use.

Question No. 1071 answered with Question No. 1010.