Republican News · Thursday 4 September 2003

City Manager fuels Dublin bin charges war

BY JOANNE CORCORAN

Dublin has already been cited as one of the dirtiest cities in Europe, but the next few weeks may see it top the poll - with rubbish quite literally building up on the streets. From next Monday, thousands of people who haven't paid the notorious bin tax (introduced earlier this year), will not have their rubbish collected. The city manager, John Fitzgerald, has ordered that non-collection go ahead in areas that can 'well-afford' to pay their taxes and has also issued another 40,000 threatening letters to the city's residents.

At Monday last's council meeting all hell broke loose when a number of emergency motions were put to the manager, including one from Sinn Féin, asking that he desist from sending out threatening letters and reverse his decision on the bin collections.

Chairperson for Dublin Sinn Féin, Daithí Doolan, said that Fitzgerald is completely out of touch with public opinion in the city.

"He has already sent out over 40,000 letters and now he is sending out 40,000 more and they are all extremely confrontational," Doolan says. "We have no idea if he has even considered the health and safety implications of his decision. He's talking about not collecting from streets that can afford to pay their taxes now, but how soon will it be before he starts going into other areas? And who decides who can afford to pay and who can't? We are looking at a potential massive build-up of rubbish in Dublin and a great deal of anger from its residents."

This paper has learnt that some residents from the inner city have promised to take matters into their own hands and burn their rubbish. While the fine for not paying the bin tax is pretty steep, the fine for illegally burning and dumping rubbish is astronomical and the city's representatives are concerned that there may be all-out rebellion by householders who refuse to pay the fines.

In a new twist, a representative for the bin collectors said at a public meeting last week that they won't be refusing to collect people's rubbish. Doolan, who was present at the meeting, says the bin collectors are worried that that this is just another step on the road to privatisation.

"They are saying the non-collection is a no-go and are refusing to play ball with the city manager," he adds. "They think this is just one more step towards privatisation and as that may mean the end for their jobs they are not going to help it along."

People in the city fear that if rubbish does go uncollected, there will be a return to the scenes of the '80s, when a bin collectors' strike saw refuse piling up on the streets. Given the city's infamous reputation of having five rats to every person, people are worried that this will see an invasion of streets and houses by the rat population and health and safety at an all-time low.

At a protest outside Monday's council meeting, Dublin Sinn Féin advised the city's residents to pull together and not be held to ransom by the council.

"The council policy seems to be one of divide and conquer," Doolan says. "By not placing a blanket non-collection on Dublin, they are placing more pressure on individual areas to pay up. We have asked people to stick together on this issue and not succumb to blackmail and bully-boy tactics.

"Sinn Féin's policy has always been reduce, reuse and recycle. We don't want the current policy of putting the cost of recycling onto the consumer instead of the producer and nor do the city's residents."