Community Alliance push for reversal of refuse privatisation in Sligo!
sligo |
bin tax / household tax / water tax |
news report 
Monday November 10, 2003 09:29
by Allen - lp
COMMUNITY Alliance are pleased that due to the defection of Ald. McGarry to the Labour Party and the comments reported in the Sligo Champion that he has been a closet Socialist for many years, the opportunity now exists to have the refuse collection service taken back under the control of the borough council in line with Labour Party policy.
The voting pattern of Sligo Borough Council has been completely altered in terms of its outlook on social issues and the opportunity exists now for any elected member so inclined, to have the council reverse the decision taken 18 months ago to privatise the service and can lay down a clear marker that the introduction of charges for other services will not be tolerated.
Ald. McGarry is quoted as saying that he voted for privatisation of the refuse service because it was the policy of the party that he belonged to at the time. That is accepted and it is recognised that voting against his conscience on that issue must have been painful.
The opportunity now exists for Ald. McGarry to undo that decision by putting down a motion to take the refuse service back into the charge of the Borough Council. We now call on Ald. McGarry to put down a motion to undo the consequences of the vote that he made albeit under duress 18 months ago.
Following our representations to An Taoiseach during his recent visit to Sligo, we have received from his office a full outline of the position that obtains regarding the refuse service. While the contents of the letter do nothing to allay our worst fears as to the direction that the Government is taking with regard to the provision of services and the clear apparent indifference to the injustice that sees charges for the removal of the average household bin vary from 3 euro to 11 euro here in Sligo, the provision of a waiver scheme is totally in the hands of the elected members of the borough council. The Minister claims that he is powerless to intervene in this regard.
Therefore, if it is not possible for any legal or technical reasons to immediately re-take charge of the refuse collection service, than a motion to make provision for a waiver scheme in line with that which is on offer to people that live in places like Fingal and Dublin City should be brought forward. That waiver scheme sees all Pensioners, Social Welfare recipients, Lone Parents and all those on the minimum wage given the service totally free. Not only would such a waiver scheme put an end to this disgraceful episode that sees Sligo people treated like second class citizens, it would go a long way to solve the problems of refuse that have been highlighted in recent times in the borough.
Community Alliance take the opportunity to wish Ald. McGarry well and look forward to working with him on all issues of concern to local residents in the future.
Comments (14 of 14)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14What the hell is this community alliance? If they are genuine people they will learn very quickly the leson the the Labour Party are a capitalist party that are in favour of privitisation and bin charges.
the only pure anti capitalists in this land are the few hundred people who make up the sp, swp, anarchists & gg.
its attitudes like those of lpwatcher which make the left irrelevant.
Pat do you not accept the point that the LP are a capitalist party?
If you do then you will agree that any genuine community campaigners will be let down by the LP
Or is it that you do think that the LP are a workers Party?
but if you are building community alliances then it is very likely that labour party members will be involved as will sf etc. otherwise it is just going to be an ultra-left front.
if groups on the far left truly see labour as the epitomy of all evil then they wouldnt work with labour in anti war campaigns, pro-choice campaigns etc. so why the dichotomy?
your comments are just so much rhetoric.
It's not rhetoric, it is very much based in reality. People in this alliance have some illusions in Labour, there is nothin evil about that per se. Surely it is importatn to point out and explain the true nature of parties like the LP so that these genuine activists do not become dissillusioned with politics when they are eventually sold down the river.
in that case then those on the left should never work with labour sf etc in any circumstances. in the anti-war movement, in pro-choice campaigns, in unions etc they should denounce them at all times, regardless of whether or not this will damage the campaigns.
taking your position to its logical collusion, only a maximum programme would ever be advanced by the left.
do you really think this is a rational way to proceed?
he or she won't sign his own name as what hes saying is such nonsense.
I'm not saying that we should never work with the LP or we should spend our time continually denouncing them. What I am saying is that the true nature of the LP should not be hidden and that they should not go completely uncritisised.
Yeah but lpwatcher, I think you just missed the subtlety of what the "Community Alliance" posting was trying to do.
It was posed in an oh-so-reasonable and friendly way so that it's actual demand for action from Labour and its new Fine Gael friend would have extra impact. It was designed to make the inevitable lack of action from Labour look all the more unreasonable.
There are ways of letting Labour reveal what they are without having to repeat over and over again that they are a bosses party.
Or maybe I am giving these "Community Alliance" people too much credit.
Didn't they vote for bin charges?
They did indeed. SF in SLigo voted for bin tax and for privitisation of bin service. SF's Taqllaght Central councillor, Mark Daly also publically declared that he pays his bin tax and urged all others to do likewise. This is while 7 people who are all active in their community and unions have been sent to prison for 3 weeks and given massive fines.
SF have truely a disgraceful record on bin tax.
Exposer - check your facts. SF voted AGAINST privatising the Bin Collection.
In terms of community alliance they are not a left wing grouping. In reality they are one or two people around a would be politician Jim Sullivan who got trounced at the local election. Their other candidate in the locals in Sligo got approximately 20 votes.
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael voted to introduce Privatisation of the Refuse collection in Sligo. They were supported by the now Labour Councillor Jimmy MCGarry whose vote actually won the day for the privatisation policy. And this is now who Labour are pushing to be their general election candidate in Sligo. The Community Alliance will continue to oppose such political skullduggery.
Have to say that it is incorrect to say that SF voted for privatisation. Record clearly shows - check Sligo Borough Council website and their meetings minutes - that 3 SF and 2 labour councillors voted against the privatisation.
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