The number of people who have paid the household charge increased by 10% this morning.
New figures released this afternoon have shown that those signing up to the controversial new charge has jumped from 260,000 this morning to 286,000 at noon.
That’s still a significant sum off the government’s projected figure of 1.6 million householders that they expected to sign up for the €100 charge but also represents one of their biggest increases in sign-ups since it came into effect on January 1st.
The increase in sign-ups backs the government’s stance that they expected a last-minute rush to pay the charge before the March 31st deadline.
The head of the body in charge of collecting the household charge said yesterday he expected to see a rapid increase in the numbers paying before the end of the month.
Local Government Management Agency chief executive Paul McSweeney said he didn't have any fears about the ability of the computer system to deal with a flood of payments.
He also said he expected a large proportion of payments to be made by post.
Further sign-ups are expected between now and the end of the month, when many people are paid, but campaigners against the charge are still encouraging homeowners not to pay and a protest rally has been organised for the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday afternoon.
