Ministers Cause Confusion Over Payment Of Household Charge

Confusion has arisen over payment of the €100 household charge as two senior cabinet ministers contradicted each other.

Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan last night flatly contradicted a statement made earlier in the day by Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton.

Ms Burton had suggested at lunchtime yesterday that arrangements were being made to allow people to pay the household charge through their local post office.

However Mr Hogan later told The Irish Times that there had been no change in the arrangements for payment of the charge and no change in the deadline.

“People can access the forms for the payment in the post office but they cannot pay through the post office.

“They will have to send the payment through the post or pay online,” said Mr Hogan. “The position has not changed. The deadline remains and the arrangements for payment remain the same.”

Ms Burton had said earlier on RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme that as far as she understood arrangements were being made to allow people to pay the charge at their local post office.

The household charge is now a major issue of credibility for the Coalition with differences on the issue between Mr Hogan, the Fine Gael Minister responsible for the implementation of the charge, and Joan Burton, the Labour Minister who has been publicly at odds with Cabinet colleagues over a number of issues in recent weeks.

So far, only 20 per cent or just over 328,000 households have paid, or registered to pay, the €100 household charge. Some €32.8 million has been collected, but the Government has forecast total revenue of €160 million.

(H)