TD jailed over bin charge protest

TD Joe Higgins began a jail term tonight after refusing to give assurances that he would not join further protests against refuse collection charges in Dublin.

Higgins and a colleague from the Socialist Party, councillor Clare Daly, were both jailed for a month for contempt of court by a High Court judge in Dublin.

Higgins, a member of the Dáil for six years, rejected a court demand to halt action that has prevented a number of lorries making waste collections over the past week.

He and Daly were summoned to court to explain why they should not be sent to prison after ignoring orders made against them earlier this week.

Both have been prominent in a campaign against waste charges imposed by Fingal County Council.

Council employees have been prevented from carrying out bin collections at blocked streets after attempting to clamp down on householders who have refused to pay up.

The protests began more than a week ago and have continued despite two High Court injunctions preventing those involved from obstructing the council’s waste collection services.

Tonight the judge ordered gardaí to arrest anyone obstructing the lorries and bring them before the court.

The sentences against the two politicians took effect immediately.

After hearing the judgment, Higgins called it “an outrage“.

Earlier Higgins, from the Dublin West constituency, said he did not take going to jail lightly but insisted that he would not allow his support for the protests to be curtailed by the threat of imprisonment.

He added that he could not abandon the communities he represented and claimed Fingal County Council was “holding a gun to my head.”

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill told Higgins and Daly that he appreciated they had breached court orders as part of a political campaign and their motivation was sincere.

But they had been engaged in a deliberate and calculated contempt of the law and the authority of the court.

He said this was regrettable and reprehensible in Higgins’ case as he was a member of the Dáil.

Around 60 supporters staged a noisy demonstration outside the court as the proceedings went on and warned of an escalation of the protests after hearing of the jail sentences.

Fine Gael spokesman Simon Coveney said the sentencing was “regrettable but inevitable”, while Sinn Féin’s Arthur Morgan described it as “scandalous” as Higgins and Daly had been engaged in legitimate political protest.