Council shocked to hear it is owed €2m in refuse arrears

FORMER customers of Cork County Council’s refuse service – which was recently sold to a private company – owe more than €2 million in arrears, it has been revealed.

The council have pledged, however, to pursue customers for all monies owed and have already commenced legal proceedings against some of its former 30,000 customers.

The council recently disposed of the refuse service to a private company for just over €6m.

The disclosure that former customers still owed a whopping €2m to the council was met with audible gasps in the council chamber yesterday.

Chair Cllr Deirdre Forde (FG) commented: “How did it ever get to that?”

While the council’s director of services for the southern division, Mary Ryan, would not confirm how many of the former customers were in arrears. She said the county council was determined to recover outstanding monies, adding that the council fully intended to “rigorously pursue” the outstanding debt and would chase down every cent.

“We will be pursuing these people through the courts, if necessary,” said the director of services.

A number of legal orders were issued yesterday by the council to recoup the money owed. The unpaid monies relate to the council’s three divisional areas.

Assistant county manager Declan Daly said efforts had been made to recoup the money owed long before the council sold the refuse service to private operators Country Clean.

The decision had been made, he said, because it was already a loss-making service. New legislation on waste disposal and the implementation of VAT would have made the financial situation even more difficult for the council.

As a result, county manager Martin Riordan took the decision to sell it off.

Householders who had availed of the council service now have their bins collected by Country Clean, apparently regardless of whether or not they have paid off their debt to the local authority.

Cllr Andrias Moynihan (FF) was provided with the €2m figure when he pushed officials about how much was owed. He was also informed the council hadn’t sold off the debt as part of the deal with the new private operators.

Mr Daly said, while the outstanding figure might appear high, the council had a good recovery rate for refuse debts over the years.