With only nine days to the deadline for the payment of the highly controversial household charge, many homes in Galway city and county have still not received an information leaflet.
This, alongside the general feeling of a lack of proper information from the Government regarding what the €100 will be used for, and concerns over the inequalities with payment procedures, has led to Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív to call for an extension on the Household Charge deadline.
“The Government has made a mess of this from the beginning,” said Dep Ó Cuív. “Environment Minister Phil Hogan has been so distracted by rushing through his controversial legislation and scaring people into paying it by the end of March that he has completely abandoned all sense of fairness and procedure.”
Problems are still emerging with the legislation. Last week, the High Court allowed a challenge to the household charge based on the fact that the legislation has not been published as Gaeilge. According to Dep Ó Cuív, “this alone should be sufficient reason to extend the deadline”.
In addition, a reply to a recent Parliamentary Question from Fianna Fáil confirmed that there was a mistake in the wording for exemptions to the charge applying to State-owned properties. The result is that Government ministers can technically avoid paying the charge on their own homes.
“This entire campaign has been based on paying the charge online, which has alienated many older people and others in County Galway and who do not have access to the internet or would have difficulty filling in a form online,” said Dep Ó Cuív.
He also said that many people “cannot understand why they are unable to pay the charge at their local post office along with their utility bills”.
He also pointed out that the Government has “failed to involve An Post in the process” and “chose not to use An Post” to deliver information leaflets, even though “this would have guaranteed close to 100 per cent delivery”.
“The result is that with little over a week until the deadline, hundreds of homes across County Galway have still not received an information leaflet,” he said.
As a result Dep Ó Cuív believes the March 31 deadline is” no longer tenable.
“It is time for Minister Hogan to put his hands up and admit this has not been executed in the right way,” he said. “He must extend the deadline while legal problems are addressed, including the publication of the legislation in Irish. He must also put aside his campaign based on fear, and instead employ a proper information campaign allowing people to pay in a variety of ways, including at their local post office.”
