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Hogan is under intense pressure to back down on his household tax
PHIL HOGAN is now facing an intense campaign to bow to the inevitable and extend Saturday’s deadline on the household tax.
As the Environment Minister faces the reality that an astonishing 386,000 would have to register every day for him to succeed, calls for taxpayers to be given more time have even come from within Government ranks.
Labour TD Patrick Nulty joined the litany of deputies from Fianna Fáil, independents and Sinn Féin pleading on behalf of their constituents that the million-plus people who have failed to pay up so far should be given an extension.
And Minister Lucinda Creighton, from his own Fine Gael party, admitted mistakes have been made, while Cabinet colleague Brendan Howlin indicated that bills should have been sent out to homeowners.
But the minister was not for turning last night. Mr Hogan told Richard Crowley on Prime Time: ‘The Government has decided we’re not going to extend the deadline.’
And he warned: ‘I would encourage people, in order to alleviate any worries they have, to comply with the law and to pay by March 31 – so that there will be no difficulties for anybody with fines and penalties.’
As Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin complained of an Orwellian fiasco in watching the deadline approach while explanation leaflets are still dropping into letter boxes, his environment spokesman Niall Collins called for pensioners to be exempted from the levy, and Patricia Conboy of
Older And Bolder said last night: ‘We would certainly be in favour of extending the deadline. At this stage, it would be a practical step. Three quarters of the population have not paid. The information about how to pay and even general level of information has been limited and poor.’
Pensioners have borne the brunt of confusion about the household charge. As a planned leaflet- drop telling householders how to pay went disastrously wrong, the minister and his officials insisted that the simple process of paying through post offices would be ruled out.
Bewildered by the demands of online registration, many pensioners travelled to their local authority offices only to learn that some were not accepting payment. One frustrated woman said she had taken the bus to Dublin city centre to make payment, only to be told that she must have her PPS number.
When she pleaded to be allowed to phone it in later, she was refused – and had to get the bus home to get it. It appears the minister’s tough stance has only served to galvanise resistance against the €100 charge.
At the very least, many are asking for the deadline to be extended to September, as well as a moratorium on fines. The litany of disasters at the hands of officialdom include the failure to organise a simple distribution of explanation leaflets.
It was claimed that 2million were printed, but it was later revealed that the printing firm was in receivership and the distribution firm failed to deliver many of the leaflets.
As confusion grew, the Government response was to threaten rather than explain. A warning that those who failed to pay would be tracked down through their utility bills brought on a rebuke from Data Commissioner Billy Hawkes. Ministers even added to the confusion, with Tánaiste Éamon Gilmore and Social Protection Minister Joan Burton indicating that payment might be made through the post office, only to be told that this was not possible.
It was then revealed that An Post had offered to collect the tax for a fee of €1 but this offer had been rejected.
And yesterday, the Government insistence that council workers could be used to remind people to pay the charge was cynically manipulated by fraudsters who tried to cash in on the confusion by calling to the doors of the elderly around the country, pretending they were from the council and demanding the €100 charge.
Last night, Enda Kenny had to break away from international business at his crucial trade mission to China to deal with the growing crisis at home.
The Taoiseach said the tax must be paid, adding: ‘We have set out what the law is and I encourage everyone to make that payment for their local area and services. Council offices will be open all day on Saturday to facilitate that.’
Mr Martin told the Dáil yesterday: ‘Last week, the Tánaiste acknowledged that there have been difficulties, including communications difficulties, with the payment of the household charge.
‘On reflection, he will have to agree that what he said probably represents one of the understatements of the year. Unfortunately, the entire project has been a bit of a debacle. It has rightly been described... as a “fiasco”.’
He added that Mr Hogan had taken ‘an Orwellian approach’. He said, ‘There is a tradition that people like to get a bill so that they know what is owed and how to pay it.’
Later, Deputy Finian Mcgrath said, during Leader’s Questions: ‘The minister was hung out to dry.’
With more than 1.1million still left to pay, this means 386,000-a-day need to register between today and Saturday’s deadline.
Fianna Fáil is calling on the Government to extend the deadline until the end of September.
Mr Collins said: ‘This has been a communications nightmare, and people feel misinformed and taken for granted.’
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said the charge was another aggressive tax which is being resisted by the majority of citizens.
Dublin Central independent TD Maureen O’sullivan said: ‘At a minimum an extension is needed now. I would be in favour of the whole thing being rewritten and handled properly.’
And Wicklow independent deputy TD Stephen Donnelly said the cackhanded conduct of the payment system had been so unfair and disastrous that a further period of grace in which to pay was, ‘the least that they could do’.
‘I would suggest a further three month period,’ he said.
Labour TD Kevin Humphreys has called for an extension too, but only in relation to the now-closed direct debit arrangements.
Mick O’reilly, vice president of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, said any extension would represent a huge victory for householders.