Union bosses at Irish Water are warning that thousands of people will lose their jobs if it is wound up.

There is continued speculation that the new Government may abolish the utility, but internal estimates claim the move could cost the tax payer around €7bn.

It includes around €100m in pay outs to staff who could not be transferred elsewhere.

The cost has been questioned by anti-water charge protesters - who say the closure would save money in the long term.

But Secretary of the Irish Water Group of Unions, Adrian Kane, has said workers do not have other jobs to go to: “Most of the people in Irish Water don’t now come from a local authority.

“Behind the headlines and the half-baked ideas people are throwing out of what we do with public water infrastructure, it would strike us that it would make some sense to have a unitary authority, with responsibility for it, working in coordination with local authorities, etc.”