Irish Water has said it will have to wait for the legislation to postpone water charges to be published next month before it knows whether to penalise those who have not paid their bills. A penalty of €30 for a single-adult household, or €60 for a household of two adults or more, is due to apply to bills that are 12 months overdue.

Irish Water has said it understands that the application of late payment charges will have to be considered as part of the legislation suspending water charges, due to go before the Dáil in June.

“Once we have clarity in relation to what is required under legislation, we will update our customers,” said a company statement.

Irish Water is completing its fifth quarterly billing cycle at the moment, which will be completed before the planned suspension of charges. Under legislation, those in 12 months’ arrears have penalties applied.

As the first bills were issued in April 2015, this is now an imminent issue which the legislation will have to deal with, along with the commission that is being set up to examine the future of charging.

Penalties

Irish Water says that the penalties for those who did not pay their charges from the start would have been applied from the sixth billing cycle. As this cycle will not now proceed, the charges are to be suspended. It remains to be seen what the legislation says about these penalty charges and what decisions would follow if there were moves to collect charges from those who have not paid.

Irish Water said it is obliged to continue issuing bills until it is legally suspended, and that customers are obliged to pay. However, anecdotal evidence suggests many people have been cancelling direct debits.

The commission – and the Oireachtas – will also have to decide whether to amend legislation which requires that people selling a house have paid their water charges or, if not, that their solicitor deducts any unpaid amount from the proceeds. People in social housing who want to buy their house under the tenant purchase scheme are also required to have paid the water charges.