In December 2012 more than 30,000 families in Dublin City will loose their bin waiver.  This is a direct result of the decision taken by government Councillors  in City hall to vote for city budgets which will end the bin waiver scheme for pensionsers and low income households.  In the General Election the Labour Party promised to introduce a National Bin Waiver Scheme.

I have been working to save the waiver and to get the Labour Party to keep their promise to introduce a national bin waiver scheme.  Here is my record to date :

• December 2009: I voted against the city budget which introduced a charge for pensioners and low income families who left out their bin for collection.
• November 2011: I proposed a motion calling an emergency meeting of the City Council to prevent the City Manager selling the bin service to Greyhound and ending the annual bin waiver.  I’m not opposed to competition but I am opposed to secret deals and private cartels.
• December 2011: I voted against Labours City budget which removed the funding for a waste waiver
• January 2012: I proposed a motion calling an emergency meeting of the City Council to deal with the Greyhound fiasco.  This meeting forced Greyhound to change their annual payment scheme.
• January 2012: I referred the Greyhound deal to the Data Protection Commissioner, the Competition Authority and Public Accounts Committee.  The Data Protection Commission has already forced the City Council to change some of their plans.
• May 2012: I invoked section 136 of the Local Government Act in an attempt to force the City Manager to release the details of the Greyhound deal.