Homeowners paying refuse subsidies of up to €80

IT’S been revealed that the average householder in Co Cork is subsidising people who get a waiver for their refuse bills to the tune of between €70 to €80 a year.

Details were released by senior county council officials following a request from Councillor Liam O’Doherty (FG) at a meeting of the council’s northern division.

Assistant county manager Tim Lucey said statistics suggested that the subsidy paid by wealthier households was up to €80 each. Those in receipt of waivers are normally old-age pensioners and those in receipt of social welfare.

The money spent on subsidies by Cork County Council is not refunded by the Department of the Environment. Presently 3,264 applicants have been approved for the waiver system in the council’s northern division region this year. The northern division is roughly the same size as Co Limerick.

However, a number of councillors have expressed concern that pensioners and other people on lower incomes are being forced to pay the full amount for services from private contractors. Councillor Kevin O’Keeffe (FF) said it wasn’t fair that pensioners on private routes, which the council can’t service, are not entitled to a waiver as well.

Councillors were particularly angry to receive a letter earlier this week from the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley. They had asked him to introduce an equitable system throughout the country whereby waivers would be paid by central government, regardless of whether refuse was collected by a local authority or a private contractor. Mr Gormley said that in accordance with section 52 of the Protection of the Environment Act 2003, the determination of waste management charges and waivers was a matter for local authorities.

Similarly, he added, where private waste collectors operated it was a matter for them to determine their charges.

However, he said that he had instructed his department to commission a major review of waste management planning in which such questions would be examined.