The biggest contributor last year was the operator of Irish Water and Bord Gáis, Ervia, which paid out a dividend of €139m.

New appointments in Ireland's busy jobs market.

Irish Water “came up short” due to a series of failures, the head of the utility’s parent company has admitted.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has defended Irish Water’s metering programme despite officials from Ervia questioning the need to spend €540m on rolling out meters to the country’s 1.5m homes.

Households look likely to get a brief reprieve in paying their first water charge bills as figures show that less than half of homes have so far signed up with Irish Water.

Ministers have been accused of trying to wash their hands of responsibility for Irish Water in a bid to head off further controversy after it emerged the utility plans to pay a 9% bonus to workers who under perform.

Bord Gáis Eireann has reported an overall after-tax loss of €169m for 2013, driven by nearly €300m inexceptional charges.