If the beleaguered national water utility passes the test, the money the State is paying the company this year to support its operations will not count towards calculating the annual budget deficit.

Ireland is aiming for a deficit of 2.7% GDP. Government officials calculate that if this target is missed, more than €500m will have to be added to the national debt, upsetting budget figures.

Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistical arm, conducted the test to decide if the company should be judged independent from the Government. To pass the test, Irish Water must cover more than half its operating costs from income earned from customers.

A key issue is whether Eurostat accepts that the €100 “conservation grant” given back to households is completely separate from Irish Water.

The semi-state company began billing customers in January but so far they collected just 46% of charges owed during the first three months of this year, lower than expected revenue collection.

At the weekend, Michael McNicholas, CEO of the utility’s parent company, Ervia, explained this shortfall by saying developing an accurate register of Irish Water customers was continuing.

“We’ve built a database from scratch that didn’t exist before,” said Mr McNicholas. “We’re trying to understand exactly how many customers we have.”