The Minister for Energy and Natural Resources has insisted Irish Water has to have its own board of directors, in addition to the board of its parent company Ervia, and the three-board arrangement "is exactly what we said we would do."

Mr Alex White was responding to claims that the government abandoned a promise to have only one board for both the water company and Gas Networks Ireland.

A new scheme unveiled this week means Irish Water's parent company, Ervia, will have one board - while Irish Water and the gas company will have separate, subsidiary boards.

In November, Minister for Environment Alan Kelly told the Dáil there would be “a unitary board combining Irish Water with its parent company, Ervia”.

Mr White said that the two board system is a legal requirement and Ervia's board will be the one making the most imporant decisions. 

"What we’ve done is precisely what we said we would do," he said. 

"Obviously you’ve got an over-arching board of Ervia and you’ve got two subsidiaries of Irish Water and Gas Networks Ireland, naturally they require to have their own board to run those oganisations, internally as it were, in fact its a requirement under the companies act that a subsidiary should have a board.

“There will be nobody paid anything extra to be on the subsidiary board. The overarching board of Ervia will give direction to the entirety of the Ervia operation, which incorporates water and gas and that is exactly what we said we would do," he said.

Earlier today Independent TD Mattie McGrath called on Mr Kelly and the Taoiseach to clarify “the reasons they have reneged on promises to establish only one unitary board to oversee the operation of Ervia.”

Mr McGrath said: “This whole exercise looks more and more like an attempt to create confusion around who exactly is responsible in an overall sense for the activities of Irish Water; is it the first Board, the second Board or the third Board?"