Collins criticises household charge ‘chaos’

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Environment, Community and Local Government Niall Collins has criticised plans to force local authority staff to go door to door checking on whether their neighbours have paid their household charge.  He also criticised what he described as a growing sense of chaos surrounding the Government’s collection strategy.

Deputy Collins commented, “The hare-brained scheme to send local authority employees into their neighbours’ homes is just further evidence of the woeful mishandling of this issue. With just days to go until the deadline, the Government’s attempts to scare people into paying the household charge have not worked and actually appear to have been completely counter-productive.

“Minister Phil Hogan’s latest threat is a scare tactic too far. Given the Government’s complete failure to provide accurate information to the public about this charge and to respond to their concerns, the Minister would be better employed listening to people’s feedback, acknowledging the mistakes that have been made to date and extending the deadline to allow for a proper information campaign.

“The Government now faces the very real prospect of the majority of households not paying on time, and the Cabinet have become increasingly shrill and incoherent.  Ministers are still creating total confusion over payment methods and many people have found the entire process inconvenient and confusing.  Despite the failure to implement the policy in a fair, rational and articulate way, the Government has refused to budge on their unrealistic deadline.

“The Minister has an opportunity this week to signal a more sensible approach than we have seen from him or his colleagues to date.  I genuinely hope that he takes the opportunity.”