Household charge body ‘doing excellent job’

The chief executive of the body collecting the household charge has insisted it is doing an “excellent job” — despite sending out warning letters demanding payment to thousands of people who have already paid.

Extraordinarily, those affected may be liable to fines if they ignore the letters, despite the fact they have already paid the charge.

Paul McSweeney of the Local Government Management Agency defended his organisation’s work yesterday, but admitted:

* The agency does not know how many people who have already paid have received warning letters;

* It “may well be” tens of thousands of people;

* People who have paid but receive a letter could “technically” be liable to a fine if they ignore the letter.

Fianna Fáil environment spokesman Brian Cowen said the episode brought “the household charge fiasco to a new level”.

He called on Environment Minister Phil Hogan to ensure that people who have already paid are not hit with false penalties and charges.

The deadline to pay the €100 charge was Mar 31.

Earlier this month, the agency sent out letters warning householders who hadn’t paid they now owed €127, including the charge, penalties and interest.

But Mr McSweeney acknowledged that potentially tens of thousands of householders who already paid had received the letters. He said this was because there was no national property database and the agency had to take various data sets to try to work out who had, and had not, paid.

He urged householders who received letters even though they had already paid to contact them so records could be amended.