Pay my bills and I’ll pay household charge

Taoiseach Enda Kenny expects people to “measure up” “obey the law” and pay the €100 household charge.

Well, I’ll happily pay €100 for the privilege of living in my heavily mortgaged house, if Mr Kenny or Mr Hogan pays me €155 for my car service two weeks ago, €63 for car tax for the next three months — considering that my car has to endure the bump and grind of potholed roads on a daily basis!— €170 for my dental bill last week, €60 for doctor’s bill this week and €92 for my VHI cover per month.

In fact, I think that’s a fairly good trade — €100 vs €540. So before I pay that €100 I would like to see a breakdown of where my money will go. And could I also have a breakdown of where the €200 I pay per month aka Universal Charge is going? Oh, don’t forget my PRSI and PAYE contributions per month. I am extremely lucky to have a job — but I and most of my friends now consider ourselves the working poor: we work, we pay, we pay, we pay.