The Housing Minister has been asked to make a number of changes to the water charging system to make it fairer to those on group water schemes and business owners with multiple connections to the water network.

Fianna Fail TD, Jackie Cahill, has said that changes are required in order to ensure that there is equality and fair play between those homes connected to rural water schemes and those who receive their water from Irish Water.

He said: "My request is firmly based on the all-party Oireachtas Committee report which recommends that there should be equity between the group water and public water users.

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"It's now time to ensure that those who have been paying for their own water for years via group and rural water schemes are treated fairly and equally.

"Considerable investment is rightly being made in the public water system via Irish Water, and I feel that the same level of investment should be provided to those who operate their own group water schemes.

"These families and communities should be treated in the same way as those families and communities who get their water from Irish Water.

"Other changes are needed to streamline how farmers, in particular, with multiple connections to the water network are charged. At present, every new metre is treated as a new connection with a resulting standing charge applied."

(CD/LM)