The Bin Tax Campaign
dublin |
bin tax / household tax / water tax |
news report 
Thursday July 13, 2006 20:10
by Paula Geraghty
mspgeraghty at yahoo dot ie
hasn 't gone away, you know!
Over five months on locals still resisting the bin tax.
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Comments (8 of 8)
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Campaigners do the job of the council.
Hi Paula !
Well done to you and yours for refusing to pay twice for the same service - large parts of Clondalkin are doing the same . I live near the Green Isle Hotel (Naas Road) side of Clondalkin and have friends , colleagues and workmates in the centre (Village area) and in North Clondalkin (near the Lucan end of the constituency) and we all place our rubbish , and that of our neighbours , in the bin-truck and have even developed a small(-ish) scheme whereby one or other of us disposes of about five black bags of rubbish each week in the bins provided in his/her job ; in a round-about way , we have made new friends and met new colleagues through our continued opposition to this double-tax .
As far as we are concerned , this service is paid for through our PAYE tax . We have no intention of paying twice .
Sharon .
Well done Ringsend, keep up the good work!
Despite the spread of non-collection through the City, all non-payers bins are still being collected in Finglas and the campaign is alive and well with 7000 leaflets recently distributed to households advising them of their right to put the bags in the trucks themselves. The Council seem reluctant to impose non-collection in the area probably because so many Finglas people were willing to go to court/jail in 2003. This time we are ready again for whatever they throw at us.
This is exactly what the Councils wanted from the start. Salami tactics. Go for non-collection on the slow. Pick one area. Defeat it. Then move to next area. The opportunity was in Autumn 2003. Fingal was attacked. Some activists were left wanting when this happened. Some wanted to limit solidarity action. Some wanted only areas affected by non-collection to oppose it. It's great to have thousands of leaflets in Finglas. But the ability for solidarity action was fundementally undermined after Autumn 2003.
Fine Salami Man, so what do you propose then? That we abandon the campaign? If you come out and say this openly and honestly, I disagree with your view but I respect it. What really gets up my nose is the mealy-mouthed pessimistic attitude from those who won't openly state that they think campaign should be abandoned, even though that is what they believe and say in private.
Well it might be dead in your head but it certainly isn't in Finglas or in the many areas of the city where non-collection is being actively resisted including Crumlin, Cabra, Ringsend etc.
"The opportunity was in Autumn 2003. Fingal was attacked."
I wonder what party you are in? But seriously, some of your comrades are still involved in the Dublin City campaign in the Finglas area. For the record, nobody in the Finglas area was found wanting when Fingal was attacked. Have you only been involved in politics since Autumn 2003 or just suffer from amnesia for that period?
"Even though large tracts of Dublin and other cities have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Haugheyites and their lackey ,Ahern and all the odious apparatus of the Soldiers of Destiny, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in Finglas, we shall fight in Crumlin,we shall fight in Blanchardstown,and Tallagh an we shall fight with growing confidence . We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall dump on the beaches, we shall litter the farms with refuse, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, the stout citizens of Dublin and Cork were subjugated or imprisoned with Joe Higgins and our valiant comrades, then our brothers and sisters, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, A corrupt and self seeking regime with all its power and might,is overthrown." ( with a little help from Winston Churchill )
Big lesson of Autumn 2003 is the need for solidarity action. Some people (by all means not all) were found wanting and did not blockade outside 'areas affected' by non-collection. An attack on one is an attack on all! When fingal was attacked some argued against a swift cross-Dublin responce. Or when there was all-Dublin action they undermined it. Not turning up to actions. Not mobilising people. Maybe it was electoral concerns from some. I support Finglas, Cabra, Ringsend. It's a shame it's left to isolated areas. But you live and learn I guess.
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