Boycott may see incomes docked €2,500
Justice Minister Alan Shatter will bring laws before the Dáil next year allowing the state to take fines out of a person’s salary, dole or other welfare payments to avoid lengthy court procedures.
The move is likely to heighten hostilities between the Government and a group of opposition left-wing TDs, who this week launched a campaign for a national boycott of the tax.
Nine TDs have urged people not to pay, claiming the Government would find it impossible to take a million people to court.
But the Department of Justice confirmed that Mr Shatter will bring forward an amendment to the Fines Act so that instead of going to court or jail, a person will have a fine taken out of their earnings.
A spokesperson said Mr Shatter intended to introduce a system of “attachment orders” allowing “a small amount of money to be taken from wages or social welfare facilitating the payment of the debt or fines over time as an alternative to imprisonment for people who refuse to pay fines”.
Attachment orders will not be used to take the €100 tax out of a person’s earnings. However, they can be used for fines of between €1,000 and €2,500, which local authorities can apply to homeowners who refuse to pay.
Work is under way on the changes “with a view to bringing forward these legislative proposals in 2012”.
The department said fines under the Local Government (Household Charge) Bill would be treated the same as any other fines.
Five Sinn Féin TDs said yesterday they would not pay the charge, bringing to 14 the number of TDs taking part in the boycott.
Sinn Féin opposes the tax but is not taking a position of non-payment as a party. Its TDs who have made an individual choice not to pay are: Pearse Doherty, Padraig MacLochlainn, Aengus Ó Snódaigh, Dessie Ellis and Jonathan O’Brien.
Mr Doherty warned people to be “aware and informed of the consequences” before taking similar action.
He said politicians know the legislation inside out so are conscious of the fines and penalties they may face as a result of their boycott.
Mr Doherty said he would not advocate that others boycott it because, “if people find themselves with fines I won’t be able to help them”.
Meanwhile, the Department of the Environment has reiterated that homeowners are responsible for paying the charge, after landlords stated they would pass it on to renters.
The Irish Property Owners’ Association, which represents 5,000 property owners, said the levy should be passed on to tenants because they use local authority services.
Spokeswoman Margaret McCormack said: “The charge is for services being provided to the tenant. Therefore, the tenant should be required to pay.”
She said leases all have a clause “that allows for a property owner to pass on applicable charges for services used or consumed on the premises and that would include services provided by the local authority.”
But housing charity Threshold said national law supersedes leases and “the legislation says very clearly it’s a charge to be paid by the owner of the property”.
