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17th Jul 2017

Pay back? Here is the latest update on the Water Charges saga

Some good news?

Darragh Berry

Water Charges: It’s finally over.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has promised that nearly one million households in Ireland will be refunded for paying Water Charges.

Households who have paid the charges can expect to get as much as €325 back from Irish Water as Varadkar’s new Government looks set to finally put the matter to bed.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Independent, Varadkar said that around €170 million was needed to pay everyone back and that the payments will begin before the end of the year.

The Taoiseach said that he hoped to start the refund process by autumn but admitted that it was a logistical issue that Irish Water would have to handle.

He is confident that everyone will be refunded before the end of 2017 and what an early Christmas present that would be.

The water charges were introduced under the previous Fine Gael and Labour coalition Government but the project ended at the start of this year.

Although a refund process has been announced by Varadkar, it is not yet certain just how the refunds will be calculated.