The number of properties registered to pay the household charge passed 300,000 today, as Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore ruled out an extension to the March 31st payment deadline.
Some 300,172 properties had been registered by 4pm today, representing revenue of just over €30 million for the Exchequer. The Government expects to raise €160 million from the charge this year.
The Labour Party leader and Minister for Foreign Affairs today insisted the public had a choice of easy ways to pay the €100 levy, which is due by March 31st.
"There are no plans to extend the deadline,” he said. "The deadline is March 31st. The household charge has to be paid."
“There are new ways put in place for the payment of it. It can be paid online, it can be paid through local authorities, it can now be paid through a post office,” Mr Gilmore said today speaking at the launch of a €2 million Africa Agri-Food Development Fund in Dublin.
The Tánaiste said householders had the option of paying online, through their local authorities or by post but no direct payment can be made to or processed by An Post.
Mr Gilmore hit out at TDs and campaigners who are urging people not to make the payment, saying they were misleading the public.
Separately, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said she was confident of a very high level of registration in the final ten days. When asked would the low level of uptake to date would send the Government back to the drawing board, Ms Burton said that it was a matter for her colleague Minister for Environment Phil Hogan.
She said knowledge about the tax was really only getting widespread coverage and discussions in the last week or so.
This would encourage more people to pay and that this would be helped by Mr Hogan focusing on payment methods, particularly on methods to make payment easier for older people.
Meanwhile, the Irish Postmasters’ Union criticised the Government for failing to make provisions for householders to pay the levy at their local post office.
General secretary Brian McGann called on Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan to make arrangements for the 1,100 post offices across the country to accept cash payments.
“At this late stage the Minister’s plans for collecting the charge are in disarray and yet he is not allowing the public to pay through the most accessible means available to hundreds of thousands of people,” said Mr McGann.
The Government hopes to raise €160 million from the 1.6 million householders eligible for the tax. It says the charge will fund public services including libraries, footpaths and public parks.
Additional reporting: PA