The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, today said he was in favour of metered water charges for households in a move that could raise €200 million for local authorities.
Mr McCreevy said the principle of user charges has to be established and pointed to a number of service areas such as motor tax and electricity and phone charges. "I believe people should pay for the usage of water as well", he told Dublin radio station Newstalk 106.
However, this view is likely to bring Mr McCreevy into conflict with the Minister for Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen, who has strongly opposed the measure.
Mr Cullen said he rejected the proposal "out of hand" when it was proposed by the Department of Finance and by the Government's Expenditure Review Committee.
However, the measure was strongly opposed by the Minister for Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen.
Mr McCreevy was speaking the in the context of a report published in yesterday's Sunday Tribunethat showed the Government will have to find €1 billion to meet the cost of water and sewerage services between now and 2006.
The Republic remains the only country in the EU and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that does not have water charges for domestic users. They were abolished in 1996.
The Department of Finance has urged the introduction of a €200-a-year water charge "for all households from a specified future date".