The latest Irish Business Against Litter survey once again confirms, despite the enormous efforts of residents and community groups, Dublin’s North Inner City as a persistently littered area.
To address the chronic problem of illegal dumping Mary Fitzpatrick is calling on Dublin City Council to re-introduce domestic bin collections in the area with a waiver scheme for low income households .
As leader of the Fianna Fáil group on Dublin City Council 2009-2014 Mary Fitzpatrick strongly opposed the privatisation of domestic bin collections and the abolition of the waiver for 40,000 low income households in 2012.
Since the privatisation of domestic bin collections in 2012 illegal dumping spiraled out of control, charges increased and 40,000 low income households which availed of the waiver were left with no affordable collection service.
IBAL blames a lack of community involvement for the persistent littering in Dublin’s North Inner City but Mary disputes this and says it is simply untrue. The fact is Dublin’s North Inner City has a very strong and engaged community but it also has a considerable number of low income households which simply cannot afford to pay for private bin collections.
Privatisation of domestic bin collections in Dublin’s North Inner City has not worked.
Dublin City Council needs to admit its mistake and instead of reducing the rate of the Local Property Tax use the income to provide households in Dublin City with an affordable and reliable domestic bin collection service.
