South Dublin County Council have announced that as of 4th April the refuse service it provides will be privatised to Greyhound Recycling. Last January SDCC made its intention that the service would be going out to tender as it was now no longer commercial viable to run as a public service. The Council have also stated that new claimants of waivers will now be no longer possible. It has also stated that people who are in receipt of waivers for their bin collection wont be effected until a review takes place in one year’s time.

The refuse workers have been offered a terrible deal by the Council in relation to redeployment and pay and conditions.It’s a kin to be yellow packed by your own employer.Workers today mounted a picket outside Council headquarters to let the Council know how they feel.

Speaking about the privatisation of the bin service Cllr Gino Kenny who was Chairperson of the Clondalkin Anti Bin Tax Campaign said ” This has been a long road to privatisation. It has been cutting a public service by a thousand cuts. When Bin charges where introduced in 2002, campaigners said all a long that the end game of paying for your refuse would be privatisation of the service.

“Like in the Dun Laoghaire County Council the waiver system was eventually phased out. The private operator wont be subsiding any family or person that has unfortunately lost their jobs in the past few years. As of next year, every family regardless of your income or age will be asked to pay .This is a stealth tax that has gone under the radar, and now we have to pay. Next Year the Fine Gael/ Labour coalition will be introducing a water tax on householders, we can promise a mother of all battles awaits”.