Clare County Council forced to back down
Anti household tax campaigners in Clare are claiming full victory today in getting Clare County Council to stop asking student grant applicants for proof of household charge payment, and to guarantee non-payers will be treated equally to all other grant applicants.
“At the beginning of the week Clare County Council implicitly threatened to withhold or delay student grants to those boycotting the unjust household tax, but following a protest today by the Clare CAHWT, we have secured in writing a commitment from the council that they will will not discriminate in any way against such students,” said Paul Whitmore of the Clare Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes.
“We marched into the Council Offices to demand a clear written promise from them that they would not in anyway discriminate against non payers, and would stop sending these threatening forms to grant applicants. As a sign of the huge impact of people power, we have now received these guarantees in writing. This is a huge victory for our campaign. Hopefully in the future, the council will think twice before attempting such scare tactics. If anyone does hear of any other scare tactic from the council, we appeal for them to contact us immediately on our hotline 1890 98 98 00.
“We will now focus on our plans for fighting the property tax and the council’s court threats. We will be having a major public meeting on Monday in the Templegate hotel at 8pm with Joe Higgins TD to outline how we can defeat the all the home and septic tank taxes, and the court threats.”
The relevant parts of the statement issued to the campaign from the council are:
“All eligible applicants, irrespective of whether they have paid the Household Charge or not, will have their payments issued as expeditiously as possible.
“Clare County Council does not deem it necessary to continue to issue further letters to Higher Education Grant applicants…”
About the Campaign
