The Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has claimed that the water charges need to be kept in order to be fair to those who paid their bills.
Mr Donohoe’s comments come after the water commission recently suggested that only those who are wasteful with public water should be charged.
However Mr Donohoe believes the charges should remain as offering a refund to those who paid would be unfair.
He said: “I will be voting for the principle of retaining some form of charges…I believe that’s the only way of being fair to people who have paid.”