Anger as TDs brand collection of household tax ‘a shambles’

Collection of the household tax was branded a “shambles” by government TDs as concern at the scale of non-registration for the charge prompted angry scenes in the Dáil.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn hit out at opposition TDs refusing to pay the levy as backbenchers from the Coalition called for an urgent overhaul of collection methods.

Mr Quinn warned Cork Sinn Féin TD Jonathan O’Brien that he was “inciting people” to break the law by calling for householders to snub the charge.

In a swipe at the TD, his colleagues in Sinn Féin, and their fellow boycotters the United Left Alliance, he said it was not “constructive” for them to disobey the rule of the Oireachtas as theirs was a duty to uphold the law.

Mr O’Brien insisted he was not registering for the tax because he had been elected to bring in laws that were fair and just.

The row erupted as Labour TD Ciarán Lynch called for payments to be made available through post offices as many people were finding the online registration difficult. Fine Gael TD John Deasy branded the matter a “shambles”.

The deadline to register for the €100 flat tax per household is Mar 31, but only about 15% of households have done so.

Irish-language versions of the legislation implementing the charge were being rushed out to try and thwart a legal challenge to the levy.

The Office of the Irish Language Commissioner, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, said an English version of the law was available in electronic format, but printed versions were not available yet in either language.

The law dictates that acts of the Oireachtas must be physically published in both official languages simultaneously after their enactment.

The High Court has allowed a challenge to the legislation due to the fact it has not yet been published in Irish.

The tax could “unravel” due to the language issue, according to Fianna Fáil environment spokesman Niall Collins.

Coalition TDs voiced concern at an Oireachtas committee about the collection of the household charge.

Mr Deasy said: “It seems like a shambles right now, there’s a lack of preparation and planning.”

The Waterford TD queried why the threat of using utility services, such as the ESB, to track down homeowner addresses to collect the charge had not been considered earlier in the year.

As of yesterday, 240,645 or just 15% of the estimated 1.6m homeowners have signed up for the charge.

Fine Gael TD Kieran O’Donnell also said the website to pay the charge was “cumbersome” and slow and queried why people could not pay through post offices.

“People in the main want to pay the household charge but it makes it awkward for them... it’s a problem,” he told the committee.