Letters to the deceased ‘a public disgrace’

CLARE County Council has called for the disbandment of the LGMA following “the fiasco” that is the collection of the Household Charge, while the county manager has been advised against issuing further letters unless they are “appropriate, right and proper”.

 

Two motions were passed at Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council arising from the “total fiasco” whereby 33,000 letters were issued to the Clare public for alleged non-payment of the Household Charge.

Many of those who received letters had already paid the charge, while many other letters were issued to the deceased.

Following a lengthy discussion on the issue, a motion was passed by the members “calling on the minister to disband the LGMA because of the total fiasco they have caused regarding the collection of the Household Charge”. This motion was proposed by Councillors Richard Nagle, Michael Kelly, Tom McNamara Michael Hillary and Pat Hayes.

A further motion tabled by Councillors Patricia McCarthy, Richard Nagle, Joe Arkins and John Crowe was also adopted.

It stated, “This council agrees and advises the manager that no further letters should issue without a thorough check of the database and establishing if the sending of such letters are appropriate, right and proper”.

Councillor Pat Hayes opened the debate on the issue and said it was “a very important discussion to have” as it has “brought this council disrespect and we are being blamed for this disgrace”.

He said it was “a public disgrace” that the deceased were being sent letters and this had caused huge upset to family members. He added that he knew of others who did not pay the charge who did not receive any letter and this only highlights discrepancies in the database.

Councillor Richard Nagle said he had paid the charge but still received two letters advising him he hadn’t. He also said he was aware of one person whose uncle, cousin and grandfather, all of whom are deceased, were sent letters.

He said this exercise has just “convinced the public that no-one knows who has paid and who hasn’t paid. This fiasco has caused tremendous grief. I think there should be a letter of apology issued to those who got letters who were long deceased”.

Councillor Nagle added that there should also be some acknowledgement of “the abuse the frontline staff” in Clare County Council suffered as a result of this contentious issue.

Clare county manager Tom Coughlan said, “I’m unhappy as well. I’m unhappy of the reputational damage this has caused, the time and resources that were spent on this and I am unhappy that people got letters that caused upset. I would also prefer if it hadn’t gone on council-headed notepaper.”

He explained to the members that the LGMA were delegated by the minister to oversee the Household Charge. However, the responsibility for the prosecution of those for non-payment falls to the local authority.

He explained his concern that letters issued were sent out on council-headed notepaper.

Meanwhile, head of finance with Clare County Council, Niall Barrett, explained the letters arose when the list of those who had paid was compared with names and addresses from the land registry. Where there were names and addresses that did not correlate, it generated a letter.

He said where someone goes by a different name to what is recorded on the land registry that would show a discrepancy and rather than excluding people there was a doubt over, it included all those there was a doubt over.

Councillor Cathal Crowe commented that in many cases in South Clare members of the public paid their Household Charge at Limerick City Hall, where they were assured it would be fine. However, they then were issued letters from Clare County Council to say they had not paid. “This issue needs straightening out,” Councillor Crowe said.

Councillor PJ Kelly said he paid the charge twice and described the situation as “organised chaos”.
Councillor Patricia McCarthy said she was surprised that alarm bells didn’t go off with the issuing of so many letters.

“I can’t understand why a computer programme can’t sort out who paid and who didn’t pay,” she said Councillor McCarthy called for the resignation of the directors of the LGMA and said the organisation should be disbanded.

She was supported in this call by her fellow councillors.