On August 19, the department, which is administering the grants on behalf of the Department of the Environment, began writing to all households which had registered with Irish Water by June 30 telling them to apply for the grant.

The department said, to date, 770,000 such letters have been delivered. However, by yesterday, just 159,500 applications for the grant had been submitted.

“The department would encourage eligible householders to apply for the grant as soon as possible after they receive their letter. Payments will commence in mid–September. The closing date for 2015 grant applications is October 8, 2015.”

The department said it recognised it would take time for applications to start coming in but it had engaged in a significant information awareness campaign on the grant and the application details. It said it did expect the application take-up to improve, but added it might take some time.