Families are set for a double blow in the next Budget, as the Government contemplate both a property tax and water charges next year after a senior Government minister put both firmly back on the table on Sunday.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern (pictured) made it clear that both measures were still under serious consideration as part of the plan to raise €3bn in increased taxation and cutbacks in the Budget.

“That may include a property tax and charging for water — which are in every other European country,” Mr Ahern said.

He also signalled that the Government was still examining plans to force more low-paid workers to pay tax.

“There’s a relatively small percentage of people who are paying tax. But 50pc of people are not paying a bob of tax. That is not sustainable,” he told Newstalk 106.

The news comes as Department of Finances sources suggested that proposals to tax child benefits, which would have been a further blow to families, would be difficult to implement.

Potential constitutional issues and significant administrative difficulties are among a range of serious obstacles to the plan.

The Government last year cut the monthly child benefit by €16, but left the door open to taxing or reducing the benefit for higher income families at a later date.

However, documents show that officials believe there are significant problems with, for example, seeking to tax cohabiting couples with children. While the Revenue Commissioners have a database of married couples to use for assessing tax, it has no such data on cohabiting couples.

“There is no way of accurately getting this information so as to ensure all cohabiting couples pay tax on their child benefit,” records state.

In the case of divorce or separation, officials state it would be difficult to determine who would be liable to pay tax on child benefit.

If tax on child benefit was not applied equally, officials warn that there could be constitutional difficulties if married people were treated worse than cohabiting couples.