Why our lying politicians should be ‘fined’ €100

Our politicians should stop condescending to us with regard to the ‘household charge’ farce.

The Taoiseach is quoted, from China, on Tuesday, trotting out the trite lie that people should pay “for their own local area — it’s for their own local services.”

No it is not, that is just a marketing sound-bite. If only the people in Cork pay, will Cork local services be fine and services everywhere else curtailed? Of course not. The money is being paid centrally and will disappear centrally. Will any politician trotting out this hackneyed market speak please tell us first: which specific services will it fund?; how are these services funded now?; why is that funding being withdrawn and where is it going? (is it anything to do with bondholders?); by what other ways, less expensive to collect, less impact on households, could we raise €160M? (or even €3bn?) Any politician who doesn’t give good answers should be treated with derision and docked €100 annually from their pension.