The Taoiseach has said "there will be no return to water charges".
Micheál Martin made the comments while speaking to reporters in Texas in advance of a visit to the White House in Washington tomorrow.
It comes after the Department of Housing said there are no plans "at this time" to introduce charges for excessive water use by households.
In a statement, the department said that while Minister for Housing James Browne had received a briefing note on the issue, no proposal has been brought to him and such charges do not form part of the current Programme for Government.
It said the minister is aware that work began on the issue under the previous government, but at this time he is not giving consideration to bringing in such charges.
Last September, Uisce Éireann published its water charges plan, under which every dwelling in Ireland will have an annual water allowance of 213,000 litres, with additional allowances depending on the household size.
The average amount of water used by households in Ireland is 125,000 litres per year, according to figures from the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities.
Households which use more than their allocated allowance will be liable to an excess use charge, for both water and wastewater services, which will be capped at €250 each per year.
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Uisce Éireann will charge €1.85 for every 1,000 litres of water usage over the threshold.
Currently, there are no charges for water supplies or wastewater services.
In a statement to RTÉ News this morning, the Department of Housing said that the rationale behind the Household Water Conservation Charge is to encourage water conservation and "to ensure Ireland's compliance with its obligations under the EU Water Framework Directive".
The department said the conservation charge is not intended as "a revenue-raising" measure.
It added: "Before implementing the Household Conservation Charge, regulations relating to the provision of extra free allocation for people with health needs and for households to seek additional allowances based on household size need to be prepared.
"These are currently being worked on and are expected to be finalised soon."
Sinn Féin's Spokesperson for Housing Eoin Ó Broin described the Government's response as a "Trojan horse".
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Mr Ó Broin said that a Joint Oireachtas Committee had previously recommended eight ways to conserve water, which had been ignored by the Government.
"We had an entire chapter on water conservation and eight very detailed recommendations, all of which this government has ignored," he said.
"When they sought to introduce the idea of a charge for so-called excessive use, it wasn't in the context of the discussions on conservation. It was to do with issues of funding and compliance ... which is why I'm absolutely convinced this proposition is a Trojan horse for the stealth introduction of water charges," Ó Broin added.
Mr Ó Broin said that a number of alternative measures were needed to stop excessive use of water in Irish homes and that exemptions should be introduced in some instances.
"We have pensioners all over the country in old properties. These are people on relatively low incomes or very low pension incomes who don't have the financial means to bring their water systems up to service," he said.
"I think for those households who do not have the means to undertake that work, that (an exemption) should be an option, absolutely ... there also needs to be other measures.
"We need a public information and education campaign through schools. We need a retrofitting programme, we need changes to building regulations all set out in our report of eight years ago and all ignored by Government," Ó Broin added.
