Nine Dáil deputies vehemently opposed to the introduction of the new €100 household charge insist they will go to jail rather than back down in their campaign against it.
Socialist Party duo Clare Daly and Joe Higgins, as well as independents Joan Collins, Richard Boyd Barrett, Thomas Pringle, Mick Wallace, John Halligan, Seamus Healy and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan have all insisted they will not pay the new charge, which comes into force in January and must be paid by the end of March.
At a press conference launching their campaign against the household charge, the nine TDs called on the 1.6 million householders affected by it not to pay up.
Deputy Joe Higgins had previously challenged the government on the matter by insisting they couldn’t jail everyone or take everyone to court.
The opposition of the TDs comes despite the bill proposing the charge passing through the Dáil on Wednesday night by 90 votes to 47.
The nine are expected to receive additional support from some members of Sinn Féin with Aengus Ó Snodaigh the first from the party to insist he would not be paying the charge either.
The opposition to the charge has been criticised by several government ministers, including Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan – the man who implemented it – who accused those TDs campaigning against the charge of being “irresponsible.”
