Protesters heckle Hogan at launch

SCORES of protesters opposed to the property tax and water charges turned out to voice their anger as embattled Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan TD (FG) opened a new drainage scheme on the Southside last week.

Locals and members of the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT) held a protest in opposition to the visit of the minister, who officially opened the Shanganagh/Bray drainage scheme at the waste water treatment plant adjacent to Shanganagh Cliffs, Shankill on Thursday, January 31.

There has been widespread anger across the Southside regarding the fact that the new property tax will be based on the estimated worth of individual homes rather than homeowners’ ability to pay in proportion to their incomes.

Based on the proposed calculations for the new tax, homeowners on the Southside with a modest one bedroom apartment worth around

?¬185,000 can expect to pay

?¬315. Those who own a house worth

?¬300,000 will pay

?¬495 while a four bedroom house worth between

?¬450,000 to

?¬500,000 will see a charge of

?¬855.

Homeowners will only be liable for half the amount this year, but will have to pay the full amount in subsequent years.

It has also emerged that homeowners could also initially face the prospect of paying for water charges based on the size of their homes until water meters are installed.

Cllr Hugh Lewis (PBP) said the protest at Shanganagh Cliffs, which involved about 50 local people, passed off peacefully, but he admitted that demonstrators heckled the minister.

“He [Phil Hogan] turned up at 1.30pm and he was escorted by gardai,

? Cllr Lewis said.

“As he was going into the waste water treatment plant the protesters peacefully made their presence known and walked out in front of the car and heckled him.

“It was all very dignified; there was no egg throwing or anything like that. People just got in front of the car and blocked it as he was going in but the car kept moving very slowly and he got in then. There were no arrests and people moved back from the minister’s car when the gardai pushed them back.

?

Cllr Lewis said the proposed property tax was

“grossly unfair

? as it did not take homeowners’ ability to pay into account. He warned that council tenants might also have to pay the tax.

“A pensioner living in a house worth

?¬500,000 with an income of

?¬12,000 will still be expected to pay

?¬855 every year,

? he said.

“The legislation introducing the property tax has included local authority housing in its net; this means council tenants could face a rent increase as local councils look set to pass this on.

?

Bobby O’Toole (72), from St Fintan’s Park, Deansgrange who attended the protest said:

“What is the sense in asking people who can’t pay their mortgage, who are on the dole, or who have only one wage coming into the house to pay

?¬300 or

?¬400 or maybe

?¬500 a year?

“I bought my house, I looked after my kids and my family, and I paid the higher tax rate while I had a good job. I am now being told that that doesn’t matter anymore as they are going to bring in new taxes. The problem is that they are hitting the people that haven’t got the money to pay it.

?

A spokesperson at the Department of the Environment said the minister acknowledged the right of people to demonstrate as long as they did so in a dignified manner.

“He also thanked the majority of people who have complied with the law and paid the household charge and registered their septic tanks,

? the spokesperson said.

“In both cases in excess of 70 per cent have complied. The fact that more than 70 per cent have complied hardly means it has been heavily boycotted.

?