First water bills will arrive in January 2015

Water bills will begin arriving in homes from January 2015, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has said, even though all homes will not have meters until December 2016.

Mr Hogan was speaking today following the announcement that Irish Water is to establish eight regional offices to support the provision of water and wastewater services.

Meter installers would fix leaks found on the household’s side of the fence for free if any were discovered at the time of installation, Mr Hogan said.

“My intention is that as part of a range of conservation measures to be put in place, that where leakage is found through the water meter installation programme on the customer side, a ‘first fix free’ or equivalent support scheme would be provided. I will announce final details on this shortly.”

The regional offices will be located in Dublin city and Mullingar, Co Westmeath to serve the Eastern and Midlands region; Castlebar Co Mayo, Cavan Town and Donegal Town to serve the Connaught and Ulster region; and Kilkenny city, Limerick city and Mallow, Co Cork serving the Southern region.

Between 18 and 32 employees will be based in each of these offices drawn from the local authorities, the Department of the Environment, Bord Gáis and open recruitment.

A variety of roles will be available including operation and maintenance, capital planning and Health, safety quality and environment.

Further information on these roles will be available in on Irish Water’s website water.ie which will be launched on Friday.