Defeating the bin charges

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday April 12, 2002 11:17 by WSM - Workers Solidarity Movement

Details of two if the campaigns in Dublin and a letter from the Drogheda campaign

Defeating the bin charges

Corporation gets NASTY - DON'T PANIC DON'T PAY

The Council decided to start off 2002 by getting
tough on the people of Dublin who haven't paid
them a penny of their unjust double tax known as
the refuse charge. On a dark night in November
the Council voted to impose the charge for a
following year, despite the fact that they were
made well aware of the widespread opposition to
it.

Now like a schoolyard bully who is meeting some
opposition - the council has decided to back up
it's new double tax with threats. Thousands of
letters went out all over the city threatening
people with court action within ten days of
receiving the letter. The campaign acted quickly
and over 50,000 leaflets were distributed
informing people of developments within the
campaign.

There are meetings happening all over the city
to reassure them that the campaign will not
leave them to fight this bully on their own. We
are pushing for increasing the membership of the
campaign - as those 6 Euro per household can add
up and we'll need that money to defend those who
are unlucky enough to be brought to court.

We are entering a crucial time for the campaign.
Now we really have to stand strong. The
Council's plan to get everyone to accept the new
unjust tax has not gone well. That is why
they've resorted to the threatening people with
court action.

Of course judging by the calls that I've
received after this letter arrived on people's
doorsteps the Council have only succeeded in
really annoying the people of Dublin. This legal
option is the only one open to them - and they
cannot possibly bring the 50,000 people that
haven't paid a thing to court. Now we really
begin the fight. Join the campaign, organise
your street, and convince the unfortunate people
who've paid this tax that they shouldn't pay the
council another cent. We will demonstrate
outside the courts, we will haunt the
councillors and politicians who brought in this
bin-tax - and ultimately we'll give them the
bitter defeat that the council deserve..

They're losing the battle - now with some more
work and energy it's our chance to win the war.

Dermot Sreenan
(Campaign Secretary, personal capacity)

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Anti bin charge campaign launch in South Dublin

The campaign against the newly-imposed bin
charges is getting off the ground in South
Dublin. At a meeting in Tallaght before
Christmas attended by about 25 people who were
active in the campaign against water charges, it
was decided to establish an interim co-
ordinating committee to do the groundwork in
terms of building the campaign on the ground,
leading up to a conference to be held in early
summer. Since then public meetings have been
held in a number of different areas and more are
planned. If you live in the South Dublin County
Council area, your help is needed in building
this campaign. Contact the Campaign Against
Refuse Charges by ringing Gregor Kerr on 087-
6996046, Mick Murphy on 087-9683814 or Gerry
Kelly on 01-4517203

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LETTER

Drogheda Residents Against Bin Charges &
Privatisation

DRABCAP is the anti-bin charges & Privatisation
campaign group in Drogheda. Contact: (Secretary)
Harry Phelan @ 041 9830335.

Drogheda Borough Council is now collecting ALL
bins (since December 14th last) irrespective of
"Paid" stickers/tags being displayed.

This situation arose following DRABCAP
threatening High Court action (via P. H.
O'Reilly, Solrs., Phibsboro, Dublin) against
Drogheda Borough Council and Louth County
Council for failing to implement Supreme Court
decision (Cork 8th. of November 2001) in
Drogheda.

DRABCAP, since the charge was introduced in the
town in January 2000, organised a mass non-
payment campaign against the bin charge. DRABCAP
"volunteers" collected refuse from boycotting
households and dumped it into the Council's bin
trucks on collection days in the different areas
of Drogheda.

This action began on August 2nd 2000 when the
Council withdrew the collection from "no-pay"
households, and continued until December 14th
2001 when the council were forced to implement
the Cork Supreme Court ruling in the town by the
threatened legal action.

In the two years 2000/01 the Council just
managed to collect £400,000 in bin taxes in
Drogheda from a potential £3.2 million.

The Drogheda campaign continues apace, and will
use the general election campaign to pressure
the candidates to abolish charges.

For more Info, PLEASE contact Harry Phelan
(DRABCAP Secretary) at 041-9830335. Any
publicity you can give the campaign in Drogheda
VERY WELCOME.

Frank Gallagher (Vice-Chair). DRABCAP

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More on the bin tax at
http://struggle.ws/wsm/bins.html

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This article is from the Irish anarchist paper
Workers Solidarity issue 69 March/April 2002
You can post a public comment on this article at
www.struggle.ws/wsm/comment.html

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http://struggle.ws/ws/2002.html

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http://struggle.ws/ws/pdf/ws69.html

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