Emergency meeting of City Council essential to deal with waste collection crisis – Fitzpatrick
Published on: 18 January 2012
Fianna Fáil Group Leader on Dublin City Council, Cllr. Mary Fitzpatrick has called on the Lord Mayor to immediately call an emergency council meeting so we can instruct the Manager to reverse the up-front payment element of the deal and address the other serious concerns raised by residents about changes to the waste collection service.
Councillor Fitzpatrick said: “Every Fianna Fáil Councillor has received dozens of emails and phone calls from distressed residents in the city about the waste collection services. The withdrawal by DCC from the collection of domestic waste has been very poorly managed. Serious issues have arisen since Greyhound Waste took over the collection of bins across the city. Understandably people are very angry about the unreasonable €112 charge that’s being sought up front by the company before collections begin. This element of the deal must be reversed.
Other concerns being raised are the fixing of charges for only six months and the payment arrangements for residents.
“Fianna Fáil Councillors warned the council of the pitfalls of making such a significant change in the city and we voted against the City Council budget on the grounds that it would lead to the withdrawal of DCC from domestic waste collection. It was only this week that we learned that Greyhound would be demanding households pay the annual standing charge a year in advance. This is totally unreasonable and all Fianna Fáil Councillors are calling on the Lord Mayor to hold a meeting of the City Council so the Councillors can instruct the Manager to reverse this element of the deal. Hard pressed homeowners in Dublin have already been hit with the Household Charge, the government is about to introduce domestic water charges and they have been given no choice in who collects our bins so at a minimum we should be able to pay for our bin service quarterly in arrears.
Councillor Fitzpatrick concluded: “I am grateful to Independent Councillors Niall Ring, Christie Burke and Mannix Flynn who are all supporting the FF motion.”