Taoiseach Enda Kenny denied that he was making fools of Irish people who paid the now-suspended water charges by refusing to say whether they should be paid refunds.

“No, I am not,” he replied when asked the question on the third day on his trade trip to the US. He insisted that there would have to be some payments because “water is not free.”

Mr Kenny said that he would leave the decision on the future of water charges to a special committee after an expert commission said this week that most households should not pay them.

“I believe very strongly that the committee should be allowed to do its work and fulfil its remit and irrespective of what conclusion it comes to, that it would come back to the Dáil and in respect of the provision of water. Obviously there has got to be a payment process because water is not free,” he said.

“I do believe that it is important that we let the committee do its work now in respect of the commission’s special report that it has received. A vote will take place on that in March.”

Committee

The chair of the committee on the funding of domestic water said earlier on Friday he would approach the role with “total impartiality” and would operate “effectively, efficiently, transparently and openly”.

The committee is chaired by Independent Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh and made up of 20 Oireachtas members.

It will meet for the first time next Tuesday to consider the future of water charges.

Mr Ó Céidigh said on Friday he had already met some members of the committee and hoped to meet the remainder shortly to share his plans for the work of the group.

The Connemara businessman was appointed to the Seanad by Mr Kenny on the suggestion of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

“The objective is that the committee will prepare an objective report. I hope that everyone will be comfortable with some aspects of the report,” Mr Ó Céidigh told RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke show.

Mr Ó Céidigh added as he was a new member of the Oireachtas he was “still learning the ropes”.

“I am looking for a solution. I am solution driven. I am coming at this with a blank sheet.”

The committee has a number of questions to examine, including whether water services will be funded by a new tax or by adjusting existing taxes.

Another is whether it will allow the Commission of Energy Regulation determine the daily allowance for households.

A key test for the committee will be whether its recommendations are in keeping with the European Union water framework directive.

The committee will have three months to make recommendations which will be sent to the Dáil for a vote.

‘Not helpful’

Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell, who is a member of the committee, said refunding the charges would make a fool of people who did pay and that using words such as “chasing” and “hunting down” those who had not paid was not helpful.

“I don’t like words like that,” said Ms O’Connell, also speaking on the programme . “You don’t hear words like that when people don’t pay their electricity or gas bill.”

Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy told the programme that there was no hope of getting money from people who had not paid and called on the Government “to just give it up and refund the money”.

Mr Murphy said people on group water schemes or private wells should receive sufficient grants to cover whatever they pay. “There should not be an urban/rural divide on this issue,” he said.

Minister of State and Independent Alliance TD Sean Canney said on Friday there was a "huge amount of silent people" who had been paying for water for years, while water had been delivered voluntarily in parts of rural Ireland.

“They are the people I want to see recognised,” Mr Canney told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

Mr Canney said he believed the concerns of people on private waste water plants also needed to be considered.

“Around this country we have housing estates which are littered with waste water treatment plants. The people in these estates are paying for the running costs, they’re paying for the maintenance of the plant and they also have to pay for any future upgrades that will be required.”

“We need to see what’s going to happen with these people.”

“My concern right now is that there was no debate about private group water schemes and no debate about the private waste water treatment plants.”