Irish Water staff are set to challenge a board decision not to pay performance-related awards.

Workers at the utility were in line for bonuses of up to 15 per cent and insist they have earned the payments.

However, the Irish Water board made a decision not to pay the awards after political pressure.

Unions and management are now set for a meeting with the Labour Relations Commission on July 12th in an attempt to defuse the row.

Adrian Kane of Siptu said Irish Water workers were "very angry" that they were not being paid what they had earned.

“I don’t think there has been any consistent position from the company other than a decision has been made at board level that it wasn’t appropriate to pay PRAs [pay-related awards] at this time,” Mr Kane said.

“Money had been set aside for the payment of it. We had been informed of that by the company.”

Irish Water was due to distribute performance-related payments this year, but Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly urged management not to proceed with the plans.

Under the arrangement, staff members were in line for bonuses of between 3 and 15 per cent.

Pay at risk

Irish Water has insisted the payments are not a traditional bonus, but a “pay at risk” element of their salaries.

The unions say the performance-related awards were a key element of the contract agreed between them and the utility in 2013.

Meanwhile, the board of Irish Water is to meet today to discuss the number of people who have registered and paid for water charges.

It is expected the figures will go to Cabinet today before being released.

The Dáil will also spend the week discussing enforcement measures for those who do not pay their water charges.

The new proposals place an onus on landlords and local authorities to ensure all tenancy agreements require people to pay the levy.