Councillor Brid Smith, People Before Profit, has condemned ‘the legalised extortion’ of a €100 standing charge being imposed by Greyhound for waste collection in the Dublin City Council area.
‘The Greyhound company have no right to demand €100 up front from people. They only want this money so that they can build up their financial reserves at our expense.
‘The manner in which DublinCity Council have withdrawn from waste collection represents a huge historical set back.
‘Waste collection has been seen as a public service since the Victorian era – -it should not be regarded as an opportunity to make profit.
There are three aspects of this arrangement which are deeply disturbing:
- Information on the exact financial arrangement between Dublin City Council and Greyhound are being withheld from elected representatives. Under the guise of ‘commercial sensitivity’ an insidious form of censorship has been imposed. But the people ofDublinhave every right to scrutinise arrangements made with private companies. What right do unelected city managers have to do deals without public transparency’.
- Dublin City Council has given Greyhound the right to pursue people who owe the council money for waste charges. No information has been provided on how much money will go back to the council or what cut Greyhound will get. Instead a private company has been given the right to harass people who are already stressed out by huge bills.
- The workers of Dublin City Council – who have given loyal service over the years have been treated in a disgraceful manner. They have been given no guarantees about their earnings – but have been told to turn up each morning like ‘spailpin fanaigh’ to wait outside the city council for work. This is no way to treat workers in the 21st century.
I call on people to protest against this attack on public services and to take the example of the global Occupy movement and resist.
