The Taoiseach says there is no legal obligation on anyone to pay the 2014 property tax now despite any letter from the Revenue Commissioners.

Enda Kenny says the tax is not due until 2014 and anyone who wants to pay by cheque can write one for that date.

The Taoiseach was responding to claims from Fianna Fáil that the confusion was caused by the government attempts to ram the law through the Dáil without scrutiny.

He also says anyone with a credit or debit card must have a bank account and can therefore pay the tax by a single debit mandate on March 24th next.

He has told the Dáil that claims this would damage the economy in the run up to Christmas are wrong.

Meanwhile some 5,000 calls per day are being made to a special Revenue Commissioner phoneline dealing with property tax queries.

960,000 letters were issued to householders in the past week outlining their obligations for 2014.

Although extra staff have been deployed to answer calls, Revenue says wait times for the helpline are around 15 minutes. That rises to 17 minutes if the query needs to be transferred to a Revenue official.

Ministers have today been briefed on the latest controversy surrounding payment methods for the Local Property Tax. Revenue Chairman Josephine Feehily is also due to answer questions at the Oireachtas finance committee on Thursday.