Court Victory for Anti-Bin Campaign

dublin | bin tax / household tax / water tax | news report Wednesday May 11, 2005 17:19 by Bin Man

The Dublin City Anti-Bin Tax Campaign has won another significant victory in the Circuit Court which means bin tax arrears for 2001-2002 are now invalid.

This is the second time in recent months that the Dublin City Anti-Bin Tax Campaign has won a significant case in the Circuit Court. The case arose as a result of an appeal by Kimmage man, James Hegarty, against proceedings taken against him by the City Council for non-payment of bin charges. Judge Linane found that Dublin City Council had not provided any incentive to Mr. Hegarty to recycle his waste and therefore reduce the amount of charges paid. It found that this was in breach of the City Council's own waste management plan. The City Council will not be appealing the case, which deems bin charges for 2001 and 2002 to have been illegally implemented.

This is a hugely significant victory for the campaign, which should see the cancellation of half the bin tax arrears and the possibility of a refund for those who did pay for the years in question. It will silence those who claimed that the struggle against the bin tax was over and will strengthen the determination of the thousands of non-payers throughout the city who have held out against the Council’s bullying tactics. It leaves the Councils policy of hounding people through the courts in a shambles and their plans to implement non-collection in disarray. The legal position is now crystal clear: The charges for 2001-2002 were illegally set. The campaign is calling on Dublin City Council to withdraw all recently issued bills containing these unlawful arrears and to also withdraw the threat of non-collection of bins on the basis of these unlawful demands for payment.