First payments of €100 water grant due this week

Householders who have registered with Irish Water and applied for the Water Conservation Grant through the Department of Social Protection will start receiving the €100 payment this week.

Close to 160,000 people who registered with the department and chose to receive the grant via electronic transfer will be first to get the payment.

Currently, people only have to register their details with Irish Water in order to qualify for the grant from the Department of Social Protection and do not have to prove they have paid their water bills.

Recent figures from Irish Water show that 51 per cent of people have paid their second phase water charge.

It is understood linking the €100 grant to bill payment has been discussed but there is no timeframe for when this might apply. However, it will not be until 2016 at the earliest.

It is understood the Government has no plans to get rid of the conservation grant, which was criticised by Eurostat when it decided the utility could not be treated as an independent body and come off the exchequer balance sheet.