The Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay campaign has called on septic tank owners to boycott the septic tank registration process which started this week.
Spokesperson Francis McCafferty said today: “Finally Minister Phil Hogan has emerged from his referendum bunker to announce that registration of septic tanks has now begun. Due to start on April first, there has been delay after delay in setting the system up until it was sneaked out this week, nearly 3 months late., with no fanfare.
“We are calling on all septic tank owners to refuse to register. Anyone who registers will have their tanks inspected and will then be required to pay for any remedial works. The legislation makes it clear that it will be entirely the responsibility of the owner of the septic tank to carry out any works recommended by the inspector. This could mean a bill for thousands of euro which many simply will not have.
“The issue is of possible pollution of ground water is a very serious one and it is correct that long overdue action is taken to address it, but the burden should not fall on individual rural dwellers. It would be a better use of public funds to allow the local authorities to carry out the necessary work instead of continuing to throw billions to the bondholders. Until the government addresses the issue of costs for individual septic tank owners, we will advocate a boycott of the registration process.
“Like the Household Tax, we will force the government to listen by making it unworkable. Across the country a majority of homeowners have not paid the home tax, while in Donegal nearly two thirds did not. We expect the figures for non-registration of septic tanks will be even higher than this given that many in rural Ireland feel they are being picked on by the government.”
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