Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

There is a range of options available for persons to pay the household charge. An online system, www.householdcharge.ie, is in place in the Local Government Management Agency to enable homeowners to pay the household charge by credit or debit card. In addition, homeowners can make payment by cheque, postal order, or credit or debit card by completing the relevant payment details on the declaration form and posting it to Household Charge, PO Box 12168, Dublin 1. Instalment payments were available before 1 March 2012 for those who wished to pay in four instalments. This deadline was necessary in order to meet banking requirements for direct debit arrangements.

A bureau is in place in the LGMA to administer the charge on a shared service-agency basis for all local authorities. The Local Government Management Agency is administering the household charge system on a shared service/agency basis. In addition, 178,000 postal applications have been received in the household charge bureau, which are now being processed and this work will be completed shortly.

I am satisfied that there are comprehensive suites of payment options available to persons to pay the household charge and I have no proposals to introduce changes to the payment options currently available.

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