LOCAL AUTHORITIES whose citizens have paid the household charge in significant numbers will not suffer the same cuts as those which have shown a low level of compliance, The Irish Times has learned.
Government sources confirmed yesterday that the allocation of funds raised through the household charge would be linked to the amount of revenue raised in different local authority areas.
Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan hinted at this by saying he was looking at a way of better rewarding local authorities “that pull out all the stops to collect the charge”. He said that more than 800,000 households had registered and paid the charge by the deadline of midnight last Saturday.
The Minister thanked all those householders “who had carried out their patriotic duty” and paid the charge.
Mr Hogan said sacks of mail remained to be opened and processed and a massive influx of postal applications was expected throughout next week.
“Until the current backlog and postal applications are finalised we will not have the final compliance figures. That could be a couple of weeks,” he added.
More than 80 per cent of those who had paid the charge by midnight on Saturday did so online. People paying that way this week and up to the end of the month will be charged an automatic €11 extra, covering a penalty and interest.
The Minister emphasised that the money raised through the household charge would be used to fund vital local services.
“The more that is paid and collected, the better the quality of services to be provided locally,” said Mr Hogan, who once again appealed to people who had not yet paid the charge to do so as soon as possible.
The 34 city and county councils are responsible for chasing up those who have not paid. Their funding allocations from the Department of the Environment will depend on how successful they are in this.
The charge was due to generate revenues of €160 million and Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said the shortfall will not be made up from central funds.
Mr Hogan said he was acutely aware that Irish people have had a difficult time of it over the last few years, but in spite of that 800,000 had registered and paid the levy.
“They understand the need to pay for local services and, by paying the household charge, they have made their valuable contribution to the continuation of essential services at the local level. I thank them for this.”
He insisted the country was on the road to economic recovery, and the Government had made the tough decisions required to achieve that objective.
“Nobody wants the imposition of new taxes or charges, and I would have preferred not to have had to introduce this charge. However, the principle of the household charge is very important,” said the Minister.
Mr Hogan said Ireland was one of the last countries in Europe not to pay for essential local services through a locally-based tax. The tax base in Ireland was being broadened through the introduction of the charge and this would serve to move the focus away from taxing people’s work, which would in turn support employment generation.
Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins, one of the leaders of the campaign for non-payment of the charge, accused the Government and the media of grossly distorting the payment figures to suggest 50 per cent of households had complied.
“The 2011 census found just under two million houses in the State. [Of these] 129,000 are owned by local authorities and do not have to be registered. This leaves 1.86 million houses that must be registered,” he said. This meant the figure for compliance was just more than 40 per cent of the total required – and not 50 per cent as suggested, he said.
