Some 5,000 people have paid the new €100 household charge to Meath County Council and a last-gasp charge saw up to 1,000 people paying on Saturday alone as the deadline for payment ran out, the council said this week.
There are about 60,000 households in the county. However, the council still does not know how many people in total have paid the controversial charge because some of it has been paid electronically to central government. Householders who still owe the money will have now have to pay €111 (including €10 penalty charge and €1 interest).
At a meeting of the council this week, Cllr Jimmy Fegan condemned Minister Phil Hogan's attempt to "penalise" councils which had not taken in as much as other councils in household charges. He said that it was unacceptable that this should be done.
"There is a resistance to this household charge whether we like it or not. You can hardly blame a local authority which did not get the money in. It's ridiculous. This is like blaming the next door neighbour for having your own children's faces dirty".
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