Donegal County Councillor John Campbell has claimed that council officials are over-estimating compliance levels with the household charge by up to 20%.
Cllr Campbell claims figures produced by Minister Phil Hogan’s office are simply “a farce.”
The Mountcharles based Independent Councillor maintains the council’s estimates of those liable to pay the household charge are intentionally flawed, claiming that upwards of 59% of people in Donegal still have not paid.
‘It’s just another part of this government’s ongoing campaign of intimidation; they’re trying to bully people into paying.
“If this inaccuracy has been repeated in every county then the majority of people across Ireland still have not paid, despite what the LGMA propagandist Paul McSweeney has been saying on radio all last week,” blasted Campbell.
‘Using the census the LGMA are counting all vacant properties, apart from holiday homes in the county as being exempt from the charge, but this doesn’t match the legislation or their own website. Their figure for exemptions is out by nearly 12,000’ explained Cllr Campbell.
He continued saying, ‘this is more than just a simple error or oversight; it’s deliberately false. There are seven categories of properties listed on the website as being exempt, using CSO and Census data available on the Department’s own website I have come up with a more accurate figure without much hassle.
“This is proof if proof was needed that we can’t trust this government and that people have nothing to fear from the threatening letters being sent out. They are grossly incompetent.’
Ind. Cllr. Campbell finished by issuing a challenge to Paul McSweeney of the LGMA to publicly debate the figures with him.
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