Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Perhaps he will tell me when I have reached my two minute limit. It will not come as news to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, that the household charge is necessary and nor will it come as news to him that the household charge is not universally popular. In respect of the latter, I do not suppose the household charge differs from any other form of taxation while, with regard to the former, the Minister will be aware the Government inherited a memorandum of economic and financial policies signed by the previous Government and voted on by every backbench supporter of the that Government, which included a commitment to introduce a new residential property tax. Furthermore, the memorandum of understanding on specific economic policy conditionality, dated 8 December 2010, contained a list of actions to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2011. These included a commitment that the Government would ensure that effective measures were in place to cap the contribution of the local government sector to general Government borrowing at an acceptable level. In that context, the current Administration introduced a household charge of €100 to fund vital local services. Nevertheless, the manner in which this charge is being collected is making it even more unpopular than it already was and perhaps more unpopular than it needs to be.

At 70% compliance, County Clare has one of the higher compliance levels in the country. Consequently, 70% of the approximately 55,000 households in County Clare have paid, which means that approximately 16,500 households have not paid. It is highly disconcerting for those who have paid it to see equal services still being provided for those who have not paid it. However, it is even more disconcerting for those who have paid it to receive letters asking them to pay it or asking them to provide proof of having paid it to the very authority to which they brought the cheques.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I must ask the Deputy to conclude shortly.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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Notwithstanding that only 16,500 households have not paid the charge, 33,000 letters issued last week at a cost to Clare County Council of €15,000, including letters to many who had paid and letters to people who are deceased and long deceased in many instances. People are rightly aggrieved at the manner in which the charge is being administered.

Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the issue. Like my colleague who has clearly outlined the issue, I too share the concerns of the Deputy in respect of the very real resource issues that are being used up in this matter and the real difficulties in which some local authorities find themselves as a result of spending money they do not have. I am concerned at the figures provided to me as of Friday afternoon indicating that just under 1.1 million people have paid the household charge or have registered for the exemption but potentially tens of thousands of individuals will be issued with letters or have been issued with letters who have already paid. If I use the example of www.checktheregister.ie and the various local authority websites where one can go on-line and type in one's name and address and find oneself relatively simply, surely after 11 months of the charge being in place the Local Government Management Agency and the local authorities could collate the information a little better. It is disappointing, as my colleague mentioned, that after 11 months we are still dealing with ghost addresses, replicated addresses and such abnormalities within a system that has been generated since January, and letters issued to households who paid within the specified time. One gentleman stopped me on the street and then telephoned me to say that he paid on 3 January and showed me the printout of the receipt which showed the time of payment. That is disappointing. I urge the Minister, the Local Government Management Agency, the various local government agencies and the Department to come up with a more practical solution for the several hundred thousand individuals who owe the State the legitimate sum of €127 arising out of legislation passed in the House in a democratic fashion.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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In addressing this matter we should begin with first principles.

Ireland is committed, under the EU-IMF programme, to the introduction of a property tax. We must put the funding of locally-delivered services on a sound financial footing, improve accountability and better align the cost of providing services with the demand for such services, as Deputy McNamara has rightly pointed out. It was considered, in light of the complex issues involved, that a local property tax would take time to introduce and accordingly to meet the requirements of the EU-IMF programme, the Government decided to introduce a household charge in 2012 as an interim measure.

This was done via the Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011. Under the Act, an owner of a residential property on the liability date of 1 January 2012 is liable to pay the household charge, unless otherwise exempted or entitled to claim a waiver. The household charge funds local services delivered by local government, services upon which many people depend. However, a sizable number of liable property owners are failing to discharge their legal obligations. Non-compliance by liable owners means reduced resources for local authorities to use to support communities and places a greater burden on those owners who do pay the charge, that is, their neighbours, colleagues and friends. A bureau is in place in the Local Government Management Agency to administer the charge on a shared service-agency basis for all local authorities. The legislation places collection of the charge under the care and management of local authorities. It is a matter for local authorities to use their local knowledge and judgment in issuing reminders to households, and local authorities have been working with the bureau to do so.

For my part I expect the local government system actively to pursue those liable owners who are simply refusing to pay. I fully support the local authorities in seeking to encourage compliance by liable property owners with the Oireachtas legislation.

There was no comprehensive database of residential properties and owners prior to the household charge being introduced. It is a sad reflection on the State that we could not say who owned property. The collection of the household charge via self-assessment declaration provides for the collation of such information in relation to residential property. This work is an essential element for the effective implementation of the local government tax in 2013 and it is in everybody's interest that this work continues.

Local authorities are continuing to identify undeclared properties through appropriate data sharing provisions outlined in the 2011 Act. Strenuous efforts have been made to match self-declared information with other datasets and in refining the resulting data. The letters being issued by local authorities are based on information provided by the Property Registration Authority. Such datasets are imperfect. As Deputy McNamara is aware from his legal background in some cases the information may not have been updated with the most relevant or recent details. In other cases address formats vary from dataset to dataset. As a consequence of names and addresses having been entered and recorded differently in computer systems, and of the same addresses appearing in different formats from dataset to dataset, members of the public have received letters from local authorities in error. I appreciate that the receipt of a letter in such circumstances is an irritation to those who have already paid. The Local Government Management Agency has had great difficulty in getting access in good information and has had to spend a considerable amount of time in dealing with other public bodies to get agreement and protocols in places to comply with the Data Protection Act to ensure people's rights and responsibilities and privileged information is not made available to, perhaps, competitors particularly in the public utilities.

Any person who has received a letter in error need only contact the Household Charge Bureau - I recognise it causes inconvenience to do so - and the issue will be dealt with. Similarly, liable owners who are experiencing other difficulties should contact their local authority or the bureau.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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I do not disagree with anything the Minister has said but it is more than an irritation to receive those letters: for some it is a source of worry. My parents received such a letter and were very worried that they had a tax liability. I know several people who are upset because they received letters in respect of people who had died. There is a register of births, marriages and deaths in the country. I wonder whether that is one of the databases that has been cross-referenced. There is also the issue of letters being sent to many people in the same household when, of course, there is only one household charge to be paid, in instances where even that one has been paid.

The Minister mentioned my legal background. On that basis I would be interested to find out what was the legal basis for compelling finance officers in local authorities across the country. I do not expect the Minister has an answer to that question now but perhaps the legal basis for instructing local government officials to send out these letters could be outlined by way of a letter at a later date. Furthermore, I understand that councils were instructed by correspondence on 2 July that three letters were to issue and the dates on which they were to issue. The first letters have gone out and, as Deputy Farrell pointed out, have caused annoyance, worry and grief in many instances. Perhaps these errors could be amended and rectified in advance of the second and third batch of letters going out.

Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. I wish to make two points. The first is a remark made by the chief executive of the Local Government Management Agency last week that householders who do not notify the agency - this is on the assumption that they are receiving a letter in error - will receive a second letter and technically could face a penalty. Clearly, if an individual has paid his or her household charge he or she will not face a penalty but I am confused and concerned as to the use of the word "technically" in the statement which would suggest that a person would have a liability even if they have paid, just because the system is not as it should be. I agree with the Minister that in 2012 it is a damning indictment of recent governments that we do not have a full record of home ownership. The second is the number of households who will continue to receive letters incorrectly. The Local Government Management Agency estimates that 400,000 letters are to issue, with some 10% to receive that letter in error.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank those who have made the contribution. Some 67% of people have paid this new charge, the highest level of compliance ever. I want to put on record my appreciation of the fact that, despite the provocation by and protests of individuals, the people of Ireland want to be legally compliant.

There is no easy way to put heads together and cross-check data. The Property Registration Authority, PRA, the Land Registry, ESB, Bord Gáis and other utilities are available to the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, albeit approximately four months later than expected, to help in discharging its responsibility to send out accurate information. By law, this charge is in the care of the local authorities. They should have screened the list better to ensure that, for example, entire estates did not receive letters if just one or two residents had not paid. Better administrative practices could have limited some of the irritation to which I referred and which was felt by Deputy McNamara's parents. The local authorities' management of the charge is important.

Deputy Farrell asked about people who were technically liable. If the LGMA is not told that someone has paid, how is it supposed to know whether it has sent out letters in error? This self-assessment scheme is voluntary and many people have shown goodwill and complied with the law. Unfortunately, we are indulging on their patience once again. It is an irritant, but we are trying to ensure a clean database that is fully operational in terms of data sets for the future local property tax. Notwithstanding the fact that it is an irritant to receive a bill when payment has already been made, it is necessary to ensure a proper and accurate database.