Republican News · Thursday 8 August 2002

Dubs urged to ignore bin charge threats

BY JOANNE CORCORAN

More and more Dublin residents are worried after receiving warning letters from Dublin City Council over non-payment of the bin charges. Sinn Féin Councillor Larry O'Toole, however, is advising people not to be panicked into paying the charges.

"These letters are very threatening in nature," he told An Phoblacht. "But the city council has no right to be intimidating people into paying this double taxation. It's a public service that people should not have to pay for."

The charges are being put to the vote at the council's estimate meeting once again in either November or December. Last year, Sinn Féin was the only party that wholeheartedly supported a 'no' to the charges. The Green Party backed the charges, and three of Labour's 12-strong contingent of councillors supported them. These three councillors went against the party whip and were expelled from the council group, but not the party, although subsequently one, Anthony Creevy, switched allegiances to Fianna Fáil.

Larry O'Toole hopes that this time round the decision on the charges can be reversed.

"The four Sinn Féin councillors will be voting against the charges, and we hope that by the time it comes to the vote that the Green Party will be supporting a 'no' vote," he says. "If we have the full support of Labour and backing from some of the other councillors, the vote may be won."

The Sinn Féin councillors are advising constituents in areas where councillors support the charges to begin ringing and writing to them to voice their concern at how they will be voting at the estimates meeting.

"People who do not want to pay these charges should find out if their local representative is for or against the charges and act accordingly," Larry says. "This decision will ultimately be in the hands of the 52 councillors. In the meantime, people should be enquiring as to whether they are entitled to a waiver for the charge. I have provided many pensioners in my own area with waiver forms, and they have discovered that they are exempt from paying. There are a number of criteria for people to be excused from paying. However, this does not make it acceptable to charge the rest.

"The bin charges are not as environmentally friendly as the council makes out. Looking after the environment is about waste reduction, recycling, and putting an emphasis on the manufacturer's responsibility to cut down on packaging, not charging people to collect their bins."

"As far as I'm concerned, this is the first step from the council towards privatisation of the bin service, which would be detrimental for everyone. If this happened, in all likelihood the service would deteriorate, with profit coming before communities."

The message from the Sinn Féin councillors is that they won't be backing down on their stand against the charges.