Bin tax protester vows to continue campaign

A member of the Dáil, jailed for his part in anti-bin tax protests, today vowed to continue his campaign.

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and his colleague councillor Clare Daly were greeted by family and friends upon their release from Mountjoy Prison.

Joe Higgins called on trade unions to lend their support to the protests.

He said: “I was treated with great courtesy and respect by both staff and my fellow prisoners and I treated everybody in the same way.

“I call on the trade union movement to seriously now organise and campaign for industrial action, for industrial stoppages, in order to stop the non-collection policy and in order to get rid of the bin tax.

“I want to commend the bin workers who have come out in support of the campaign.”

Mr Higgins and Ms Daly were jailed for a month for not complying with a High Court injunction requesting them to allow bin trucks through.

Protesters have been campaigning at the authorities’ decision only to pick up refuse from residents who have paid their tax.

Several householders were also jailed for up to two weeks for breaching orders.

The scale of the action escalated sharply this week, with protesters blocking depots across Dublin.

More than 50,000 households did not have their waste collected as a result.

In one of the protests a campaigner was carried on the bonnet of a council truck. He was treated in hospital for cuts and bruises but later released.