Household charge registrations still far short of expectations

The number of homeowners who have registered to pay the new household charge has surpassed the 300,000 mark but remains way off the target of 1.6 million.

Some 313,341 households had paid the €100 levy by close of business yesterday. The deadline for payment falls on March 31.

Some have criticised the payment methods in recent weeks, with many arguing that it should be possible to pay by cash in local post offices.

But CEO of the Local Government Management Agency Paul McSweeney said this option is not possible.

"When we started this… we certainly had an informal conversation with An Post," Mr McSweeney said.

"They require you to come in with an invoice. To generate an invoice, you need a database - that database doesn't exist.

"That's one of the purposes of the whole household charge, to create that database.

"What you can do at your local post office is pick up the form, you can then buy a postal order there and send it off."