€100 grant whether utility bill paid or not

People who are refusing to pay their Irish Water bills will be able to apply for the €100 conservation grant from today — but will have to hand over their PPS number to do so.

The Department of Social Protection has confirmed it will start informing people how to apply for the funding from this morning as part of a strategy the opposition claims is focused solely on tying people to the utility.

Under the conservation grants scheme, Tánaiste Joan Burton’s department will start sending out letters today to the estimated 1.3m registered Irish Water customers explaining how they can access the €100 support.