Dublin Anti Bin Tax Campaign win landmark court case

dublin | bin tax / household tax / water tax | news report

Tuesday December 07, 2004 16:02

by Donal Mac Fhearraigh - SWP

donal at swp dot ie

Brid Smith, Dublin Anti Bin Tax Campaign

The High Court this morning ruled in favour of a case appealed from the
Circuit Court on behalf of the Dublin City Campaign Against the Bin Tax.
In this landmark case, Justice Lindsay found that the City Council illegally
applied bin charges for the years 2001/2002, on the basis that they defied
their own criteria and failed to provide incentives for re-cycling.

The High Court this morning ruled in favour of a case appealed from the
Circuit Court on behalf of the Dublin City Campaign Against the Bin Tax.
This is a victory for the thousands of non-payers throughout the city.

The judgement vindicates the stance taken by the campaign, that the bin
charges are an unjust double tax. It will have major implications for the
Council policy of pursuing non-payers of the charges through the Courts.

In this landmark case, Justice Lindsay found that the City Council illegally
applied bin charges for the years 2001/2002, on the basis that they defied
their own criteria and failed to provide incentives for re-cycling. Because
the Council imposed a flat-charge, regardless of whether use was made of the
service or not, the charge was deemed illegal in this case.

The case was taken on appeal by two members of the campaign in Dublin.

The implications of this ruling are that nearly 300 cases pending for
non-payment of the charges in this period will fall. It could also mean
that those who did pay the charges could justifiably pursue a refund from
the Council.

According to Councillor Joan Collins of the campaign, “This proves that
people have been correct to refuse to pay this unjust double tax. On a daily
basis people all over Dublin are being bullied and threatened by the Council
because of these charges. Just this week thousands of threatening letters
from a debt collection company Legal & Trade have gone out all over Dublin.
In some cases the Council staff are phoning peoples homes and harassing them
for the bin charges. We believe this ruling will help our case in standing
up to the council’s tactics which have been marked by threats and jailings
in this high profile campaign. The Council are totally out of order”.

Disgracefully, Dublin City Councillors voted for a budget which includes a
74% increase in bin charges only last week. The resentment and anger of
Dublin citizens to this hike will be boosted by this ruling this morning.

For further information contact Brid Smith at 087 9090166 (spokesperson)