Hogan: Those shunning €100 levy will be pursued

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has once again been accused of using “bully boy tactics” after he warned those who fail to pay the household charge will be pursued.

Mr Hogan said the charge “is not going away” and people will be chased down in the same way as those who fail to pay their TV licence.

A new system to gather the charge will be discussed by the cabinet next week.

Mr Hogan said letters will be sent to the more than 700,000 people who have not paid outlining the penalties they face.

“The local authorities have become very involved in following up people, they will be writing to people in due course to let them know of their obligation to pay,” he said in Kilkenny yesterday.

“It will be like the TV licence, where it will be brought to the attention that they must pay. It’s not going away and one way or another they are better off paying sooner rather than later.”

The latest figures show that registrations to pay the €100 tax continue to trickle in bringing the total to 900,392 of an estimated 1.6m home owners who are obliged to pay.

These figures include 183,500 postal commitments that have not yet been processed, according to the Local Government Management Agency.

Just over 880,000 properties registered for the €100 tax before the Mar 31 cut-off point, meaning that just about half the country obeyed the law.

Those who pay up until the end of September will face a €10 penalty and a €1 per month interest fee.

The Government has already indicated those who paid the second-homes tax, and landlords, would be the first to be investigated for non-payment of the levy.

People Before Profit TD and anti-household tax campaigner Joan Collins said Mr Hogan was using “bully boy tactics” by using local authorities to collect the charge.

“We can say to him that he will be resisted, he will be resisted through huge mobilisations, through organising people in their communities,” she said. “And people will not be forced to pay this tax.”

Niall Collins, Fianna Fáil’s environment spokesperson, said that the Government has “engaged in a communications disaster with the public”.

He re-issued his call for exemptions to be extended for those who cannot pay, and an extension deadline for those who can.