Council secures order against bin charge protestors

FINGAL County Council secured a High Court order yesterday restraining bin charge protestors from interfering with the council’s bin collections.

The injunction also identified Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and Fingal County Councillors Clare Daly and Ruth Coppinger as having encouraged demonstrators to mount pickets that led to a serious blockade of bin collection services on Wednesday.

Waste collections in parts of Dublin city and county were abandoned for a second time yesterday after three bin lorries were blocked by the protestors in Castleknock, Santry and Swords.

This week refuse collectors in the council’s area of responsibility have only been emptying bins carrying a yellow tag to show that the charge has been paid.

Anti-bin protestors, led by Socialist Party activists, had continued to blockade two trucks in Lahunda and Willow Road in Clonsilla until late on Wednesday night.

The protestors who had blocked bin lorries had insisted that they could only leave when all the rubbish left out had been collected.

A spokesperson for the council pointed out that all bins left out in Howth and around 50% in Castleknock where a refuse truck was blocked by protestors were emptied yesterday.

Two refuse trucks had also been stopped by protestors in housing estates in Swords - one was blocked in Glenellen and another in Valley View.

Last night one bin lorry was still being blocked by protestors in Coolock lane, Santry.

The spokesperson said the council had been inundated with calls from residents yesterday who were disgusted that their tagged bins had not been emptied.

Dublin City Council is currently making arrangements to stop collecting rubbish from householders who have not paid waste charges from next week.

Two other local authorities in Dublin - Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and South Dublin County Councils - say they intend to do the same soon.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted that those who could afford the bin charge should pay it because the cost of refuse collection had to be borne by everyone.

Mr Ahern, who was speaking at the end of Fianna Fáil's annual parliamentary party conference in Sligo yesterday, said people had to accept that bin charges were a way of life.

“An awful lot of people don’t pay them because of the waiver system which is a good system. People with an income problem make their case. But we can’t go on trying to deal with effluent and waste and toxins without putting in resources. We have to do that,” he said.

Mr Ahern said those resisting charges might have had a case when the tax rate was 65% and VAT was 25%.

“Now our tax rate is the lowest in the EU and people who expect these services should pay for them.”