It's emerged this evening that households claiming the water conservation grant will have to go through a second registration process later this year.

This will be on top of households being required to register with Irish Water.

The Government had said that those wishing to get the €100 grant would have to register with Irish water before June 30.

That still applies but it is now been confirmed that to get the grant a second registration with the Department of Social Protection will also be required in August, before payment begins in September.

A dedicated website and call centre will be established by the Department to assist people in matching their unique Irish Water identification number with their claim.

The cost of this new registration is estimated at two-three per cent of the €130m budget set aside for the grant.