There's some good news for those in the dole queue with the announcement that 25% of 16,000 new jobs at Irish Water will be reserved for those signing on.

The new positions - which are expected to be announced later today - will be in the construction phase of the company, which has been tasked with collecting water charges.

Today's good news comes just days after Irish Water announced up to 240 jobs will be created at 8 regional offices around the country, while another 400 positions are being rolled out in Abtran call centre in Cork, which will process applications and customer queries in relation to Irish Water's operations.

The first bills for water charges will be issued to the public in January 2015.