Brussels meeting sees Hogan miss ministers’ autopsy of household tax

The absence of Phil Hogan, the environment minister, from the cabinet’s autopsy of the rollout of the household charge raised eyebrows.

Backbench government TDs expressed surprised that the minister was not present so soon after the tax was introduced.

The Government denied that Mr Hogan had been sent to Brussels so colleagues could have a more frank discussion about the boycott of the levy.

He was at a meeting in Brussels regarding turf cutting issues, officials said — despite the fact that Gaeltacht Minister Jimmy Deenihan was also present at the EU gathering.

Mr Hogan became the lightning rod for criticism of the way the household charges’s introduction was mired in confusion.

The number of households that have registered for the €100 charge stands at 880,433, with the Government claiming this represents just over 50% of eligible properties.

After weeks of confusion, with the environment department and the agency responsible for collecting the tax saying they did not know how many homes were affected, the Government said 1,570,814 properties were liable.

That figure is disputed by opposition parties and anti-tax protesters who say the true figure 1.8m — and thus more than half of those due to pay have refused to do so in a show of “mass civil disobedience”.

Several Labour ministers have voiced concern at the “mistakes” made by the Government in the introduction of the tax — which was heavily dependent on payees using the internet to register and did not allow for the tax to be collected at post office counters.