More Legal Wrangling - The Campaign Continues

dublin | bin tax / household tax / water tax | news report Wednesday September 17, 2003 19:17 by No Bin Tax

FINGAL COUNTY Council has served attachment and committal proceedings on Joe Higgins TD and Cllr Clare Daly for breaching High Court orders preventing them from obstructing waste collection. About 50 anti-bin charge campaigners protested outside the court as the defendants arrived earlier this morning.

Protest outside the High Court this morning

The two Socialist Party members will have to appear in the High Court on Friday to explain why they should not be committed to prison for breaching these orders.

The court also granted another injunction against the anti waste charge protesters. Joe Higgins said the protests would continue. Interestingly two of the statements given in court were from council spies at public meetings. A brief report of the proceedings can be read below.

Meanwhile, despite the threats from the establishment, the protests continue all over the city. Today, trucks were blockaded in the Cabra area. This blockade was broken up by Gardai who apparently were not wearing any identification numbers. It appears that the government are willing to use force to undermine this campaign of ordinary, angry people.

A second Dublin local authority is to cease collecting refuse from householders who have not paid their bin charges from today.Dublin City Council is following the example of Fingal County Council in ordering its bin lorries to bypass any homes that have been black-listed for defaulting.

In an effort to avoid protests similar to those witnessed in the neighbouring local authority area last week, the city council is implementing non-collection on a phased basis, concentrating initially on households in Dublin 4, 6 and 6W. The local authority has deliberately chosen the most affluent areas in which to start as it believes they will be more compliant under the new regime.

Other local authorities are planning to follow suit with Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council saying it would "shortly" commence a programme of discontinuing the service to defaulters.

Campaign treasurer Mr Diarmud Naessens said : "If there is non-collection in any area, there will be a response similar to that seen in Fingal last week."


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Today's High Court Proceedings

From The Irish Times Website: FINGAL COUNTY Council will ask the High Court on Friday to imprison or fine "bin tax" protesters and Socialist Party members Mr Joe Higgins, TD, and fellow party councillor Ms Clare Daly.

Lawyers for the council today told the court that Mr Higgins and Ms Daly had been "intimately involved and actively participating in a blockade of collections in blatant disregard" to a week old High Court injunction outlawing such activities.

The case comes amid continued protests across Dublin at the council's decision not to collect domestic waste from householders who have not paid their refuse charges.

When the Council sought leave to serve short notice of attachment and committal proceedings Mr Higgins said he had to be honest with the court and stated he was not in a position to cease the democratic campaign against waste collection charges or personally refrain from assisting in the campaign of civil disobedience.

"The actions of Fingal County Council are seriously detrimental to the thousands of residents I represent," he told Judge O'Neill.

Councillor Daly said that with no disrespect to the court she wished to be associated with and adopt Mr Higgins's attitude.

Judge O'Neill, when told they did not wish to give any undertaking to obey court injunctions restraining them from interfering with bin collections, said he had no option but to grant the council's application for short service of the attachment and committal proceedings which shall be heard on Friday.

Mr Higgins, in an affidavit, said there was massive opposition to the bin charges and massive resentment at the council's direction that those engaged in a boycott of the new charge should be denied a refuse collection service.

He said the council had alleged he and another Councillor, Ms Ruth Coppinger, also a named defendant, had encouraged householders and residents to intimidate neighbours who had paid the charges and placed tags on their bins.

"This is a scurrilous allegation and is entirely untrue," Mr Higgins said.

"Any campaign in which I have been involved has been entirely peaceable and I would find such conduct utterly repugnant," he said.

Mr Higgins also denied stating he would arrange for the collection and dumping of untagged waste on public open space and land owned by the council.

He also refuted allegations that he had intimidated officials of Fingal County Council and said the peaceful community political campaign would not condone the intimidation or harrassment of anyone.