Opposition is growing to the amalgamation of library services nationwide, with local councillors, Oireachtas members, and trade unions warning it will lead to the closure of branches in small rural communities.

Tens of thousands of households who still have not paid the so-called second-home tax have been warned "there is no escape".

If you haven’t paid your local property tax or household charge or undervalued your house for the property tax, you have until the end of March to rectify matters.

The taxpayer has footed a €31,000 bill for sending local government officials from one county council to a management course at a US university — with the body that collects the household charge paying course fees.

Tens of thousands of property owners refusing to pay the household tax will be tracked through the Land Registry in the coming days.

Property owners who have not paid their household charge are being advised that the interest and penalties due will rise by €11 on October 1.

Councils have been told to do whatever it takes to collect the €100 household charge as anger intensifies over linking the levy to college grant applications.

More than €7m in household charges paid by property owners is being used to finance the agency collecting the levy, despite communities facing cuts to essential services and the closure of local facilities.

Leo Varadkar has admitted that it is the worst timefor the Government to introduce a property tax amid calls for the new levy to be postponed.

Many disgruntled property owners still refuse to pay the household charge.

The head of the agency collecting the household charge revealed how he and staff have been threatened, how he received hate mail and how a shotgun cartridge was sent to a senior staff member as a death threat.

The agency responsible for collecting the household charge says it will send a second round of reminder letters to those yet to pay the charge.

The taxpayer has had to foot a €250,000 bill for sending top local government officials on a management course at Harvard University.

The Government has begun tracking down the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who refused to pay the €100 household charge.

Five solicitors based in Cork City have agreed to give free legal advice to people facing possible court action for non-payment of the controversial household tax.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has confirmed that three property owners have each paid between €30,000 and €40,000 as a result of the controversial €100 household charge.

Staff who have access to homeowners’ files to allow them to chase payment for the household charge will be monitored by a biometric security system to prevent the theft of personal data.

Latest figures on the household charge show that Co Donegal is the biggest rebel county with 73% of homeowners not having registered for the controversial household charge.

The number of people who have registered to pay the new household charge surpassed the 900,000 mark today.

Almost 889,000 properties have now registered for the Household Charge.

The Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes (CAHWT) has claimed that the 2011 Census and an analysis by a Maynooth academic show that more than 1.8 million households must register for the Household Charge.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has said he is examining the idea of rewarding local authorities which "pull out all the stops" to collect outstanding household charge payments.

Final figures show that a total of 805,569 properties had registered to pay the €100 household charge by the payment deadline of midnight last night.

Thousands are expected to gather outside the Fine Gael Ard Fheis this afternoon, calling on the Government to scrap the €100 household tax.

Over 32% have now paid the household charge, with 515,600 having forked out the €100 by 4pm today.

Just over 30% of the 1.6m eligible households have so far paid the €100 household charge, the agency responsible for its collection said today.

Chief executive of the Local Government Management Agency Paul McSweeny said that he expects a lot of activity next week from people paying the household charge.

The number of registrations for the household charge has jumped by 25% in the past week.

Some 109,569 homes have signed up for the new household charge to date, netting over €10m for the Exchequer.