It will be late next year or early 2015 before water metering is introduced. The Finance Minister says there will be no flat rate charge in the meantime.
His comments come despite the Department of Environment insisting earlier that the intention is still to impose the charge from January 1st next.
It is understood Ministers are concerned about a possible back-lash from the public about the new tax coming so soon after the introduction of the controversial property tax.
Environment Minister Phil Hogan said last week that water charges would be levied from the beginning of 2014. It is Minister Hogan's department that is charged with implementing the new system of water charges.
Finance Michael Noonan says the motivation of the charge is to treat a scarce resource with respect.
new jPlayerPlaylist({ jPlayer: '#0', cssSelectorAncestor: '#jp_container_0' }, [ { title:'Michael Noonan', mp3:'http://www.radiocms.net/content/hose/media/000195/232816_1451698.mp3'
} ], { swfPath: '/assets/includes/js/jPlayer', supplied: 'mp3', wmode: 'window' });
