Householders who refuse to pay the controversial new water charges will not have their water supply disconnected or reduced.

The dramatic u-turn was revealed by Environment Minister Alan Kelly, who claimed the Government was learning from "strategic mistakes" that were made with the setting up of Irish Water.

"I don't think it was appropriate to be using the language of going out and telling people their water would be disconnected or the pressure reduced if they didn't pay," he said.

"I don't think it was helpful from day one and wasn't the approach that should have been taken."

The Tipperary TD said the Government and Irish Water are now committed to examining other alternatives for people who refuse to pay for their water.

Government sources indicated that this may include a system of fines.

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"The days of people going out and saying that peoples water is going to be cut off or reduced to a trickle is over," he said.

"The message is quite clear - I don't advocate or don't ever want to see anyone going out to cut off anyones water. Can I be any clearer than that?"

"I want to say that to people across the country. I don't think it is realistic - we want people to comply, to engage with Irish Water and become customers."

"The Government are looking at a range of other mechanisms to try and bring people with us."

"What we want to do is create a process where people will pay their bills which will be modest."

"The charges will also be determined for a number of years so that householders have certainty and clarity."

"The critical thing is that we have modest (water) charges and that people see the value of what we are doing."

"If there are people that, full stop, say they are never, ever going to pay, obviously from a Government point of view we are going to have to look at mechanisms by which we can deal with that."

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Mr Kelly was speaking as he toured the Cork call centre that handles all Irish Water matters with utility boss, John Tierney.

A small group of anti-water charge protestors demonstrated outside the Mahon complex during the visit.

Call centre staff asked not to be identified by the media such is the vitriol being targetted at them.

Mr Kelly expressed concern over the level of anger being witnessed at some protests but said the Government are working to tackle the issues involved.

"We have had a lot of meetings in Government over Irish Water and we are making a lot of progress," he said.

"We are not going to rush things - it is critically important that we now get things right. The time for mistakes is gone. We must, from a Government point of view, address all the concerns that citizens have raised."

"I am now devoting all my time to ensuring that we correct everything...I would rather get things right and do things properly than put a (hasty) timeframe on it."

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However, the Government's economic management committee wants to have Irish Water charges agreed and published within the next three weeks.

Mr Tierney acknowledged that Irish Water staff and contractors have had a difficult time.

"We are at the start of a campaign to roll out the water system. They have handled 275,000 calls here in Cork. In total we have dealt with 475,000 calls through our contact centre between metering and the customer application campaign."

"They have also taken in 588,000 postal items which is an enormous figure. Between all of that we have been hugely busy and we have a difficult time because of the volume of contacts."

"This is at the very beginning of the system and people are expressing their views. A huge contact has been made by the customer which is good in itself. People have to be listened to but, over time, the value of the work being done...will be very well appreciated by people."

Mr Tierney also defended Irish Water's handling of the meter tendering process.

"It went through the full procurement process and were awarded entirely correctly in that regard," he said.

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