NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > News > Granny refuses to pay household levy and likens Irish conditions to World War II times

Granny refuses to pay household levy and likens Irish conditions to World War II times

Limerick resident leads charge against latest tax

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, March 26, 2012, 9:06 AM

Updated Monday, March 26, 2012, 9:06 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

12 Comments

An 81-year-old Irish grandmother is leading the fight against the government imposed household levy – after describing conditions in Ireland as akin to the Second World War.

Mai Fitzgerald, a Tipperary woman with nine grandchildren and now resident in Limerick, has vowed to go to jail rather than pay the $130 levy.

After living through 26 different governments and several recessions, she has finally had enough according to the Irish Independent.

“At my age, you have to think of the way the country goes. It is gone – buggered,” she told the paper.
“The only harsher time I have experienced in the country was life during World War II.

“I think this is just another tax on people and the people that brought it in don’t understand at all how others are living because the politicians have pregnant wallets.

“They suffer from a multitude of deranged ideas. The Government should be looking after the elderly better than they are looking after them. They cut us in our fuel this year - imagine!”

Fitzgerald said she has no qualms about going to jail if she has to – even though the government has pledged prison sentences will not be an option for defaulters.

“I am very adamant about this. It is another tax and we have been hit too much. I will do jail, it does not bother me now,” she said.

“I will definitely not be changing my stance on the €100 charge. I am prepared to go to jail for this and I only have a few requirements when I get there.

“I am a pioneer all my life. I don’t drink or smoke. So long as I can get Mass in the morning, get the papers in and a few good books.”

Nster.com

E-mail

12 Comments

See all comments

Towngate | Mar 29, 2012, 05:35 PM EDT

Jacers! Hysterical! Word is; they are preparing a special cage in Thornton Hall for 'The Sphynx of Drumcondra' - the bould Bertie. They figure that having spent so much of his ill-begottens putting 'Make-up'on his face,(and on his politics!) he will mix in well with the other biddies!

Report abuse

jacersagain | Mar 28, 2012, 02:32 PM EDT

*chuckling* @ Townie... Yerrah, d’oul Countess must be turning in her grave to see how comfortable the Dóchas Centre in the Joy is! With its re-building, you’d hardly recognise the jail these days... some call it Hotel Joy! I know the women prisoners warders are allowed to wear casual clothes like the prisoners instead of uniforms but I don’t think that applies to the men’s sections: so much for equal job opportunities... eh? At least I’m glad that the Troika put the brakes on the new ‘too comfy’ prison at Thornton Hall in Nth Dublin – it should be toned down enough to provide only cold showers, bunks and piss pots like they had in the days of the Countess. And no TVs atall atall but that would mean Granny Fitz might miss her doses of soaps too in Limerick Jail.

Report abuse

Towngate | Mar 27, 2012, 06:41 PM EDT

Hello again,Jacers. Thanks for marking my card about the latest wing of 'The Mountjoy Hotel'. ~ No wonder the aul' biddies are 'eating their children' to get booked inthere! I had assumed it was equal treatment for all sexes in those places. - Isn't that what Markevitz fought (and didn't die!) for? - It is disturbing to learn that Dubliny females get such fine treatment when those in the rest of the country can rot away in fetid hell-holes. > > > This grumblin'Granny should be down on her adorers, giving thanks for the cushy life he has had and maybe she or Patrick Counihan could inform us on what part of Tipperary or Limerick the Germans dropped their bombs! ~ Till then; S'long,Pal.

Report abuse

jacersagain | Mar 27, 2012, 04:11 PM EDT

Ah jaysus Townie, get yer facts right! Granny Fitz would have the life of O’Reilly like all the other female prisoners if she were to be placed in the new all-casual Dóchas Centre which comprises the women’s prison in The Joy. But wait, hang on a mo – isn’t she a Limerick/Munster lady? That means likely imprisonment in Limerick’s Women’s Prison. Now there’s a real hell-hole! That’s so overcrowded that some prisoners sleep on mattresses on the floor of cells and each prisoner sharing a cell must attend to their personal needs in full view of the others. She’ll share a cell with a least one woman with a mental illness (60% of all female prisoners are mental cases) and will probably exit the jail all mental herself. Maybe someone should tell her to forget about the morning papers and practice getting up off the floor each morning to use the shared loo and sink.

Report abuse

sirpeter | Mar 27, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT

Now Creaky you know as well as I do that wealth is created by the ordinary people.We choose to look after ourselves in old age.Most people of her generation didn't spend much. You also know she owns her own house.She doesn't seem like a sponger to me. Look at all the free houses given to the thick stupid who won't have to pay anything~Again.Besides chances are this household levy will be a grand a year or more before you can say cocka-doodle-do.This household levy should be means tested.But the government are to stupid at the moment to do anything right.When she dies the government will get half her house anyway when her family sell it.There's a fierce cruel streak in you Creaky.An 81-year-old Irish grandmother with some guts.Look at what Lizzy the Hun and family is costing the Brit taxpayer.You're full of admiration for her.

Report abuse

Towngate | Mar 26, 2012, 09:43 PM EDT

This Mai Fitzgerald should utilise her faculties to count how much money she has taken in the ridiculously high Irish Welfare Benefits over her life, or even just the last twenty-one years, and then ask herself where she thinks that money came from as she and her vast clan lived free of water,sewage and property rate charges! Her nine grandchildren are probably costing the State over €3,000.00 per MONTH! in Child Benefit alone! . . . >>> Those now smirking and refusing to pay the charge of €100 (a YEAR!)- a sum many would spend on a half-decent night out in a pub - will smirk on the other side when there is an Attachment of Earnings / deduction from Benefits or having the Charge added to their Utility bills! If she thinks a spell in 'The Joy' with her books and daily newspaper delivery would be fun - she will have a serious shock and will be screaming to be let out and pay double the Household charge after just a few hours. The appalling conditions in this notorious and dangerously overcrowded Dublin hell-hole; Mountjoy Prison will make sure of that!

Report abuse

sirpeter | Mar 26, 2012, 01:40 PM EDT

Georgy Boy are you jealous? Georgy you'll never get a boyfriend on IC the way you are going.

Report abuse

jamieLM | Mar 26, 2012, 01:28 PM EDT

@STEVENSTAR, just exactly how many Americans do you know personally who think that the Irish live as depicted in Hollywood films? We're well aware that it's 2012 and Ireland is a modern country. It's you who needs to educate yourself.

Report abuse

GeorgeDillon | Mar 26, 2012, 12:56 PM EDT

Ciaradexy: Isn't the poster Stevenstar your boyfriend? Sure seems like you are soul mates.

Report abuse

ciaradexy | Mar 26, 2012, 12:19 PM EDT

STEVEN!!!! TURN THE CAPS LOCK OFF MAN!!!!

Report abuse

BrendanDunphy | Mar 26, 2012, 11:28 AM EDT

@stevenstar ... if you honestly think that all Americans still think of Ireland as a setting for "The Quiet Man", it is you that needs the educating. So very naive.

Report abuse

STEVENSTAR | Mar 26, 2012, 10:48 AM EDT

OH WHAT A DRAMATIC STORY .. LETS GO MAKE A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE ABOUT HER.. IM IRISH LIVE IN DUBLIN IRELAND AND THE STORIES PRINTED ON HERE ARE 100 MILES AWAY FROM THE REALITY OF WHAT AMERICANS THINK ..AND REALITY OF LIFE IN IRELAND MOST OF 4.3 MILLION PEOPLE WHO LIVE ARE ACTUALLY QUIET WEALTHY WE DONT DANCE AT CROSSROADS OR WE DONT LIVE IN COTTAGES AND RIDE AROUND ON DONKEYS .. AMERICANS NEED TO EDUCATE THEMSELVES MORE ..

Report abuse