‘Desperate’ government considers changing legislation for Household Charge

The Environment Minister says he’s considering changing the Data Protection Legislation, to make sure the Government can enforce the new Household Charge.
The deadline to pay this 100 euro tax is March 31st – yet to date the vast majority of people have yet to register to pay.
The Government has said in recent weeks that it would consider using information held by utility companies to identify household owners who have not paid the charge.
However, the Data Protection Commissioner had expressed concerns about doing this – and is currently in discussions with Minister Phil Hogan, negotiating a protocol for handling and safeguarding data.
Ruth Coppinger of the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes says changing the data legislation shows just how desperate the Government is,  to force people to pay: