Trashed

Evelyn Ring reports from Dublin on what may be the first battle in a war against bin charges.

HOUSEHOLDERS who had paid bin charges were left with their rubbish uncollected in a number of areas of Dublin yesterday as anti-bin charge campaigners blocked bin men from doing their jobs.

Fingal County Council said collections had to be abandoned in Clonsilla, Blanchardstown and Portmarnock.

Anti-bin charge campaigners plan to continue their protest despite being warned by gardaí that they could be prosecuted. Gardaí took the names of many of the protestors and warned them that they could be prosecuted under the Public Order Act.

Three trucks were stopped in Portmarnock for several hours and another four in west Dublin.

Protestors continued to blockade two trucks in Lahunda and Willow Wood in Clonsilla. Residents insisted the vehicles could only leave when all the rubbish was collected.

Fingal County Council claimed that 63% of the 65,000 householders in their area were paying the charges, yet collections had to be abandoned in Clonsilla, Blanchardstown and Portmarnock. Other areas, however, experienced a normal service.

The council's area of responsibility includes west Dublin and north Co Dublin. It is the first local authority in the country to implement new legislation on the collection of waste.

The local authority operates a tagging system and claims its charges are among the cheapest in the country. Householders must pay €5 for a yellow collection tag, available in local retail outlets, if they also have a green bin for recyclable waste and €3 if they only have a grey bin.

Residents joined Socialist Party activists, who also head a protest group called the Fingal Anti-Bin Tax Campaign (FABTC), and blocked trucks in areas where refuse collectors refused to empty non-tagged bins.

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins said PAYE workers were already paying for a bin collection service. “People are not for breaking on this issue. There is too much at stake,” he said.

Socialist Party Cllr Ruth Coppinger, who led the protest in Willows Court in Clonsilla, said the general feeling was that the refuse truck should not leave until all the bins were collected.

The lorry stopped when protestors blocked the roadway after it refused to collect Donna Byrne's untagged bin in the cul de sac.

“I don't see the point in paying tax on the double to have my rubbish collected,” said Donna, who claimed the council refused to replace her bin free of charge after it had been damaged on a previous collection day.

A few doors down, Lisa Taylor decided to remove her tag and save it for another day. “I don't like the idea of having to pay extra to have my rubbish removed but we are all going to have to pay for the service anyway and, at the end of the day, I don't want my rubbish to be left behind.”

Carol Barbour from nearby Sheep Moore Avenue, whose name was noted by gardaí, said she joined the protest because she felt very strongly about the issue. “I don't support the Socialist Party.

“I am not very politically minded at all but I do feel this is a double tax for a service over which ordinary people like me have no control.”

Meanwhile, Dublin West Progressive Democrats Senator, Tom Morrissey, said Mr Higgins ‘highly irresponsible’ behaviour could force the council to privatise its waste collection system resulting in householders having to pay more to have their rubbish removed.