1 million homes refuse to pay levy of €100

The Government has suffered an embarrassing rejection of what it says is a key condition of its agreement with the bailout troika, as almost 1m citizens are poised to defy the law and refuse to pay the €100 household charge.

On the eve of the deadline, Justice Minister Alan Shatter left the Government open to further accusations of arrogance by saying those opposed to the tax who planned to protest at the Fine Gael ard fheis today should “get a life”.

Yesterday, 55,536 homes signed up for the charge, bringing the number registered up to 522,893 out of 1.6m eligible to pay the charge from an estimated 1.8m households.