Bin-charge protestors defiant of deadline

ANTI-bin charge protestors plan to dump household rubbish into passing bin trucks if council workers in Cork city refuse to collect their waste from today.

Householders Against Services Charges (HASC) last night said they were considering a number of options to deal with the new non-collection policy including the blockading of bin trucks.

“We have kept a close eye on the manner in which the Dublin anti-bin charge protests were conducted, and we may adopt the same tactics,” said HASC spokesman Paddy Mulcahy.

Mr Mulcahy said he did not know how Cork City Council planned to enforce its non-collection policy.

He claimed many householders had not been issued with wheelie-bin stickers indicating that they had paid their annual charges.

“They haven’t distributed stickers to everyone, and they can’t take the risk of not collecting from those who say they’ve paid, but haven’t received their sticker,” he said.

The power to suspend bin collections from people who refuse to pay their annual charges was made possible under the Protection of the Environment Act 2003.

Previous legislation had put the onus on local authorities to collect and dispose of household waste on the basis that failure to collect posed a health hazard, but the new legislation requires the polluter to pay.

City manager Joe Gavin has already warned defaulters that failure to pay charges by today’s deadline means their rubbish will not be collected.

He said the majority of householders have paid their service charges, with only 2,000 out of 40,000 withholding payment. More than 1 million in charges was paid up in the six weeks since the city council wrote to people briefing them on the introduction of the non-collection policy.

Mr Mulcahy said HASC members would not being paying up on the grounds that bin charges were a form of double taxation.

“It is the PAYE worker that gets hit with all these extra taxes, while Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy looks after the wealthy, such as those in the bloodstock industry, who aren’t taxed on stud fees.”

HASC will meet tonight to discuss tactics if today’s collection service, which takes place in Mahon, creates hostilities.

Collections in the city are carried out on Monday to Friday mornings inclusive, with bins collected on a door-to-door basis.

The annual cost of wheelie-bin collection for a 240-litre bin is €277 in Cork city. A waiver system operates for genuine hardship cases.