Irish Water says its bonus package will not allow staff to increase their overall salaries, but will instead mean employees will actually lose money if they don't perform to the highest level.

A spokeswoman for the utility says the most senior managers could lose up to 19% of their salary if they're not meeting standards.

Middle-ranking workers could lose up to 9%, while the lowest-ranking staff could lose up to 4% of their pay.

It had been claimed that even staff at the new utility whose work needs improvement are in line to receive "performance related pay" of around €9,000 a year.

That has led to a flurry of criticism from Government ministers. Among those critics is the Children's Minister James Reilly who says there is "clearly a need for a lot of change" at board level.

“I think people are very rightly concerned about this, and I’m concerned about it myself,” Dr Reilly said.

“Now I would put it on the record that no bonuses have been paid, but I would share the public’s concern that people who are performing sub-optimally and can improve should be getting a bonus, and that’s something that the board would have to look at very closely,” Reilly said.

Reilly went on to say that there is “very clearly a need for a lot of change” regarding Irish Water. He noted that while the government is not responsible for the day to day operation and management of Irish Water there will be a review of the board’s performance in November and the government will take that opportunity to make their views known:

“It’s not for the government to manage the day to day runnings of Irish Water, there’s a board and a management there to do that. But the government will be reviewing the performance of the board next month and we’ll make our views known then. There’s very clearly need for a lot of change.”

Dr Reilly was speaking at the opening of a consultation with children to seek their views on the recruitment of the Ombudsman for Children.