Anti-bin charge picketing to continue

ANTI-BIN charge activists intend to picket depots in the capital’s four local authority areas again next week.

The campaign will have a renewed dynamism with the release from jail today of Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and colleague Cllr Clare Daly.

Twelve campaigners will remain behind bars when the two politicians are released 10 are being detained in Mountjoy and two in Cloverhill.

Campaigners called off their pickets on Wednesday night and a number of bin collectors will be out again today clearing the remainder of the backlog.

Meanwhile, the ATGWU, the country's second-largest trade union with 46,000 members, has called on ICTU to push for the release of the remaining prisoners.

The trade union group also wants ICTU to organise and lead protest rallies by members of all constituent unions against the bin charges.

Congress must defend the retention of domestic refuse collection in public ownership and to defend the legitimate right of people to protest, the AGTWU said.

Last week began with the jailing of three more campaigners against waste charges by the High Court in Dublin.

On Tuesday, protesters blocked all seven depots in the capital's four local authority areas, preventing bin lorries from leaving to collect rubbish.

Gardaí are also investigating an incident at one of Dublin City Council's depots in which a protester was carried down a road by a bin truck, before falling off.

On Wednesday, the protesters again placed pickets on all the depots for a second day in a row.

While Fingal County Council had the strongest associations with the anti-bin charge protests, its bin collections suffered the least disruption last week. A council spokesperson said 95% of its 65,000 households were complying with the bin charges.

The council sells tags instead of implementing an annual charge and says that 70% of its householders now put bins out only once a fortnight to save on tags. During the week, Dublin City Council said two of the protesters jailed for defying High Court orders did not have to pay the charges.

People on low incomes, unemployed or experiencing hardship are eligible for waivers.

But relatives of those in prison said their entitlement to a waiver was irrelevant, as they were protesting on a point of principle. Fingal County Council points out that 25% of waiver applications made in September came from the Swords area and 45% from the Dublin 15 area, also the political bases of Ms Daly and Mr Higgins.