“Permanent TSB is not currently allowing Irish Water bills be used for the purposes of address authentication for new account openings given the large volume of address inaccuracies in connection with Irish Water bills,” a spokesperson said. “In due course, as these matters are resolved, we do expect to be able to use them for this purpose.”

In April, the Irish Examiner revealed Irish Water had, in some instances, asked householders to describe the colour of their door and other distinguishing features to help the utility identify the house.

AIB and Bank of Ireland said they accept Irish Water bills as proof of address.