Local authority tenants who don't pay their water charges won't be able to buy their house under a tenant-purchase scheme starting in the new year.
It will allow council tenants to purchase their home at a discount of up to 60 percent on the market price, doubling the discount available under the previous scheme.
But anyone who hasn't paid all of their water charges in full won't be able avail of it.
Almost 130 thousand people are living in local authority housing.
It's not known how many of them have not paid water charges.
However just over half of all Irish Water customers have so far paid their bills.
