Plan to use agencies to collect water debts

Households that failed to make last night’s deadline for registering with Irish Water will not face any extra penalties for doing so, but the utility company warned that anyone failing to make long-term payments could be targeted by debt collection agencies.

Environment Minister Alan Kelly described the deadline for registration as “an administration date for Irish Water”, and “not a drop-dead date”.

For its part, Irish Water said there were no additional penalties for anyone who did not register, while it invited anyone still to contact them to do so to ensure they can begin the process of claiming a water conservation grant.