Irish Water bills may be linked to conservation grant

It follows reports that the government was considering restricting the €100 water conservation grant to those who actually pay their bills.

It added that Minster Alan Kelly has no plans to bring proposals to Cabinet when they next meet.

The Eurostat ruling that Irish Water must remain off balance sheet has prompted the rethink, which is an effort to settle Coalition policy in advance of the forthcoming general election.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Donohoe said it was reasonable to look at what additional measures could be put in place to improve the efficiencies of the water charging system.

Fine Gael and Labour have effectively accepted the “likely scenario” is Irish Water may not be considered an independent entity by Eurostat for another decade.

From tomorrow, everyone who registered their principal private residence with Irish Water by June 30 will start getting notices asking them to apply for the payment.

He said he was not aware of any changes to the grant being considered, including the linking of the grant to the payment of bills.

Also, it is believed that the Government is planning to keep the conservation grant in place, despite criticism from Eurostat.

Deputy Dooley said, “This whole scheme is fundamentally flawed and will do nothing to increase water conservation at all”.

While the issue is confined exclusively to Government bodies which already have the information on a general basis, a previous attempt by the external Irish Water – which has no official link to the grants – caused uproar earlier this year.

Sources said the caps will not be altered “until all meters are rolled out, people are consistently beating the cap and the capital investment has shown tangible improvements”.

“The cost of administering the grant will set the taxpayer back €6m, money that could be used to fund vital public services”.