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A torrent of 1.5 million water tax bills are set to land in letter boxes over the next few weeks, Irish Water confirmed today.

Householders will be hit with the first tranche of the hated bills for the first time through the post and by email between now and June.

Some 37,000 bills a day will be rolled out over the next eight weeks.

Charges for the first quarter of the year will be €40 or less for a single adult household and €65 or less for a two adult household.

A call centre, based in Abtran, Co Cork, has been set up with 750 customer service agents ready to answer queries from householders over the coming weeks.

Irish Water spokeswoman Elizabeth Arnett admitted the company is expecting a “challenge”.

She said: “It’s a significant task and we expect to face challenges, particularly, for example, when we have incomplete customer information or unregistered customers.

“In these cases we may not have the right billing details and it’s possible that the details we have may not be 100 per cent correct.

“Having said that, our billing systems are working well and our contact center staff are ready to correct any data inaccuracies quickly.

"They are on-hand to answer any questions or concerns customers have.”

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Meanwhile, a protest kicked off outside the Irish water call centre in Cork this morning with campaigners calling on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to dismantle Irish Water immediately.

Dublin South-West politician Paul Murphy said he believes thousands of householders still won’t budge.

He urged those opposed to the tariff to join another mass protest in Dublin city centre on Saturday April 18 in a further effort to flush the tax down the drain.

The Socialist TD said: “It will be an opportunity for people to bring their bills with them in an act of defiance which will hopefully encourage other people not to pay.”

He added: “In the meantime, we’ll be holding street meetings in Dublin South West encouraging people not to pay these bills and I believe they won’t, guaranteed.”

Irish Water said no bill will be greater than €160 per year for a single person or €260 per year for households with more than one adult.

Householders are advised to register with Irish Water before June 30th if they have not already done so to ensure they are eligible for the Government’s Water Conservation Grant.

Bills will be metered and unmetered, depending on whether or not a customer has a meter.

Irish Water call centre telephone number: 1890 448 448