Republican News · Thursday 12 December 2002

Dubliners face 30% bin charges hike

Sinn Féin Councillors in Dublin City are leading the protest against a proposed 30% rise in bin charges by the City Manager.

"The predictions we have consistently made throughout the campaign against the Bin Charges are coming true," Christie Burke said this week. "We predicted that as soon as the City Manager got it introduced, the price would start to rise and already that seems to be the case."

In addition to the four Sinn Féin councillors, Labour, Fine Gael and the three independents have indicated that they will vote against any raise. Fianna Fail haven't said how they will vote, but party spokesman Michael Donnelly said that the estimates, in which the price hikes appear, seemed fine.

The opposition councillors have said that the manager is being a 'bully' in trying to push through a budget that includes the increase.

On Monday, they refused to ratify his draft book of estimates, presented at the budget meeting. If the charges were ratified it would see householders having to fork out €156, instead of €121, for waste-management.

Sinn Féin organised a protest outside Dublin City Hall on Monday, and it was attended by hundreds of people angry about the charges.

"Our opposition to these charges is as determined as ever," said Councillor Christy Burke. "Last week's Budget was part of the government's ongoing assault on the low-paid and these Bin Charges are another unacceptable feature of McCreevynomics."

Larry O'Toole said that the meeting had been adjourned until 23 December but that the councillors will oppose it then.

"The city manager knows we're serious about this. We were among the only councillors to oppose the charges when they were first introduced, and we will continue to oppose them," said O'Toole.