HOUSEHOLDS IN ULSTER have shown the lowest level of payments for the €100 Household Charge, new figures have revealed.
Data released by Phil Hogan show that Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal are among the four counties who had the lowest payment rate for the charge as of last week.
The data, which records the number of homes which had paid the €100 fee by last Tuesday (though not those which had registered for a waiver), showed that only 28.7 per cent of the eligible homes had paid the charge.
While the government estimated that a total of 111,118 homes in Ireland were liable for the fee, which is intended as a precursor to property taxes and water charges later this decade, only 31,876 had actually paid so far.
Donegal had the lowest payment rate as of last Tuesday, with only 17,408 of its 65,331 eligible houses – 26.65 per cent – having paid.
By comparison, households in the four Dublin council areas were the most likely to pay up: 53.1 per cent of the 437,183 eligible homes, or 232,167, had paid the charge by last Tuesday.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest level of compliance, with almost exactly two-thirds of the 74,390 homes having paid up, while 52 per cent of homes in the Dublin City Council area, and 49.9 per cent of homes in Fingal, had paid.
Overall, 42.3 per cent of eligible homes had registered and paid for the charge by last Tuesday – with 685,442 homes having paid, out of a government estimate of 1,620,814 eligible homes.
As the Irish Daily Mail observed this morning, payment levels in environment minister Phil Hogan’s own constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny stand below the national average: only 38.1 per cent of the 50,324 homes in those counties have paid.
After Donegal, Monaghan had the lowest payment rate at 28.1 per cent, followed by Offaly (32.2 per cent), Cavan (34.4 per cent), Louth (34.5 per cent) and Westmeath (34.6 per cent).
After Dún Laoghaire, Dublin and Fingal, Galway city (49.1), Wicklow (46.9), South Dublin (46.9) and Kildare (45.1) had the highest level of compliance.
On a province-by-province level, Connacht had the highest proportion of houses paying the charge, with 39.6 per cent; Munster had a payment rate of 39.3 per cent, while Leinster (excluding Dublin) had payment rates of 39.1 per cent.
The data was published by Hogan in response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael backbencher Michael Creed.
The figures from last week do not include payments which had been received but not yet processed; they do include houses which had paid after the March 31 deadline and which therefore had incurred penalties for late payment.
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