Any ‘fake’ Varadkars and Gilmores waiting in wings?

SO: about half of us eventually cracked and paid the household charge: perhaps out of fear of the repercussions; or perhaps they always intended to pay it and just wanted to give the Government a fright; or perhaps they eventually accepted the argument that this money will go to fund vital locally-provided public services.

Or not. In the eager scramble to blame anyone but us, various ministers and TDs are muttering that the problem was caused by local authorities not pursuing the money with sufficient alacrity: that, to put it bluntly, they were lazy or uncooperative or simply incompetent.

This is an interesting approach to take. We are expected to believe that these local authorities are competent enough to provide all sorts of services, but also too gormless to collect the money to pay for it.