TDs vow not to pay €100 charge
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been accused of running a “campaign of intimidation” by threatening homeowners with fines of up to €2,500 if they do not pay the charge.
The accusation was made in the Dáil yesterday by Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins, who warned the charge would be met by a “massive campaign of opposition”.
It came as Environment Minister Phil Hogan, who is overseeing the charge, admitted it was “not an ideal or a fair system”.
Mr Higgins said the Government was “declaring a new economic war” on the public by introducing the charge, which will take effect from January 1.
Homeowners will have to pay the charge in full by March 31 or sign up to pay it in four instalments.
They will face penalties and interest for late payment and prosecution and fines of €1,000 to €2,500 for non-payment.
But Mr Higgins and other left-wing TDs, including Clare Daly, Thomas Pringle, John Halligan, Richard Boyd Barrett, Seamus Healy and Joan Collins, have vowed not to pay. They will hold a press conference in Dublin today at which they will urge the 1.6 million homeowners targeted to do likewise.
Mr Higgins told Mr Kenny that the Government could “not coerce a million-plus householders”.
He suggested Mr Kenny would become known as “the new Captain Boycott”, in reference to the land agent against whom the Land League instituted a policy of isolation during the 1800s.
The charge is an interim measure until the Government has a system to implement a full property tax in line with the EU/IMF bailout agreement.
“Starting at €100, everyone knows it will rise quickly to €1,000,” said Mr Higgins.
But Mr Kenny defended the charge, saying it amounted to just €2 a week and would fund local services.
“The monies raised from the household charges will go to fund services such as street-cleaning and libraries for the deputy’s area and every other area.”
Mr Kenny also said that waivers would apply for those in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, tenants in local authority housing, and a number of others.
But Mr Hogan acknowledged last night that the charge was not a fair system, given that the low-paid would have to pay the same as the wealthy.
However, he stressed it was an interim measure and that the Government would move to a full property tax in 2013, which would be a “fairer system” and see people in large houses paying “considerably more”.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh also vowed not to pay the charge. However, he said it was a “personal decision” rather than a party one, and said people should be aware of the possible consequences if they did not pay.
“I don’t want to see the situation which many in Dublin, in particular, are facing as a result of weighing in behind the ‘don’t pay the bin charges’ campaign. They were encouraged not to pay and are now facing in some cases nearly €2,000 in charges and the campaign has all but disappeared.”
