Bintifada Davitt Road

by SP Member Drogheda Tue Nov 21, 2006 10:41

Since the introduction of refuse charges in Drogheda 6 years ago and the privatisation of the bins 4 years ago, charges have skyrocketed. Its 10 Euro for a bin tag now and its set to rise again soon. You have to buy a seperate tag for the green bin - if they are trying to encourage recycling Why charge extra? If you look around the country you will see that refuse charges lead to privatisation and price rises and not an increase in recycling. What does increase recycling are free municipal recycling facilities.

by SP Member - Socialist Party/CWI Mon Nov 20, 2006 14:21

Scaremongering!!!!!!

Question?

How many local authority areas around the country now have rubbish collected by private contractors since the introduction of bin charges?

In how many of these areas has the volume of rubbish declined since privatisation?

In how many areas are private contractors now supporting the establishment of incinerators?

I oppose bin charges because:

(1) It creates extra waste.

(2) It leads to privatisation

(3) It leads to increasing charges year on year

(4) It leads to poorer wages and working conditions for bin workers

(5) It is an inequitable tax (as are all direct taxes) as it hits those on lower incomes hardest.

(6) It leads to widespread illegal dumping.

etc. etc. etc.

by Oscar Mon Nov 20, 2006 13:53

Another FF/PD triumph.

The abolition of the dual mandate was suppoused to decrease clientilist politcs, instead it
suceeded in opening up the Local government into a bureaucracy, wherein:

Local political mandate is subsumed beneath agreed voting pacts.
Re-zoning initiatives are now put directly to councils , who in order to raise funds
for the wage bills have to increase estimate and services charges.
Minimum wage and lessened funds from central government mean that there is a lot of pressure
on the councils to agree estimates or face the annual threat of abolition by the faceless
government bureaucrat known as the city manager.

The issue of the directly elected mayor is not dealt with, nor is the fact that the power
of the mayor being handed to the city manager and the threat of abolition underscored
by his relation to the state- He/She can empower the 'council' which is nothing more
than a bureaucratic clearing house for the budget to stand down- thus handing
democratic control to the unmandated and corrupt state.

FF/PD have resisted both directly elected mayors and the established parties agree
voting so that the mayor is rotated between the power-sharers.

The Local governments bill was nothing more than a non-democratic construction to
allow central government to impoverish the councils and force unmandated decisions
on small communities.
In the case of the injunctions served on people fro Rossport and Pallaskenry they are
co-signed by the developer and the county council= corrupt practice.

The raise in service charges is for one reason to cover the minimum wage bill
because the local gov bill reduced finacial input from central government.

rather than lose power the voting pacts are operational to ensure the estimates
are agreed and that the power is shared. It is not alone Noel Dempsey who is
responsible for the imprisonment of the Rossport five- but the development
company in conjunction with the council.

Read the injunctions against protestors- the next round of elections to town
councils is 2009- ensuring local voice would mean disecting the voting pacts that
allowed for the undemocratic natures of these injunctions to happen.
I believe Enda Kenny's brother disallowed debate on the Rossport imprisonments
Now why is that?

by rojos Mon Nov 20, 2006 13:29

Public/state service - costs have to be paid for - preferably through central taxation because that's more equitable.

Private services - costs = profits, necessarilly, directly out of our profits.

Cases of illegal dumping since the bin tax has rocketed in Fingal, Waterford, Sligo, Tralee, have been documented on such programmes as Prime Time.

Sanitation is a public good, a public service that should be paid for through redistributive public means - otherwise, it is likely that poorer areas receive worse services.

by rubbish Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:50

When a local authority introduces refuse charges it is inevitable that a private contractor will come in and undercut the local authority

Err no its not, thats just scaremongering

what are you saying anyhow? that you oppose bin charges because the council will roll out to private contracters if bin charges are in place? Private contracters allready collect garbage all over Ireland and there is no bin charges in place

You are literally talking rubbish

by Cirs Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:45

It's good to see a community come together on an issue, don't be bullied into submission.

One point though (to SP), what is so wrong with people making a profit? In some instances it can be exploitative, but the Irish seem to begrudge any individual/company who try to better themselves.

Anyway, best of luck with the campaign!

by SP Member - Socialist Party/CWI Sun Nov 19, 2006 23:35

I will explain this again...

The introduction of Refuse charges increases waste not reduces it.

(1) When a local authority introduces refuse charges it is inevitable that a private contractor will come in and undercut the local authority.

(2) With reduced customers the local authority decides to withdraw completely from refuse collection.

(3) However, private contractors make a profit from the waste households produce. The more waste that is produced the more profit they earn. It is not in their interest to encourage recycling. For example in Limerick when the service was privatised the private contractor charged for the collection of the green bin as well as the normal bin, so everyone got rid of the green bin and just dumped everything into the recycling bin. Many private contractors now collect recycleables but do so purely to justify their charges. Profit is made from waste disposal.

(4) Given the high cost of dumping rubbish in landfill, private waste collection contractors are the foremost advocates of incineration. To make incineration efficient and profitable they need increasing volumes of waste.

Facilities do not exist for recycling. And where they do exist they are almost always overflowing with material. Packaging is increasing not reducing and all of this goes to create profit for private contractors.

Some individuals can succeed in reducing their waste, but unfortunately many people do not have the time, energy, opportunity or facilities to do so.

Government policy is not designed to reduce waste, merely to force people to pay for its disposal and thereby create large profit for their private sector backers. Remember this government (and the main opposition parties) support incineration.

by Ian Sun Nov 19, 2006 23:09

Isn't that fantastic? A pro-pollution demonstration.

It is vitally important for this country to reduce its waste, and recycle what we do produce. These people are campaigning for the "right" to create unlimited amounts of waste without taking any responsibility for recycling it.

I only put out my black bin five times this year. Why can't others do the same?