Howlin: Household charge 'fair and just'
Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin has said he is optimistic that the majority of people will have paid the household charge by Saturday's deadline.
Minister Howlin's comments come as just 360,000 homeowners have so far paid the €100 levy, which is due in five days' time.
Some 1.6 million households are liable to pay the charge, and the Government is insisting those who miss the deadline will incur fines.
Minister Howlin said the levy is fair, and he is confident people will see that it is for the good of their local communities.
"It's a fair and a just imposition on people," he said.
"We need to broaden the tax base and we need to ensure that people understand the link between the payment at local level and the services at local level.
"We want to ensure that local services, that people depend upon to fix their roads and their footpaths; to ensure that their parks and their library services all are maintained into the future," he added.
"And I think that once people make that connection they will want to support their local communities."
Meanwhile Sinn Féin has said that the deadline for payment of the charge should not be extended beyond Saturday.
The party's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty has said he agrees with the Government position that an extension is not necessary - however not because people are delaying payment, but because they are simply choosing not to pay.
"The majority of people, in my view, have already made up their minds and have decided not to pay," Deputy Doherty said.
"So I think the major problem that the Government has isn't about extending the deadline or making it easier to pay - although that would be helpful.
"The problem the Government has is that the majority of people, I believe, when the deadline passes, will have decided not to pay, myself included."
"What they should be doing is scrapping the charge."
