Press statement - Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes (CAHWT) 11 Feb 2013
Eyewitness reports of Garda violence at South Dublin County Council

19 year old protester hospitalised: plainclothes Garda ‘smashed my head on wall’

Campaigners against the property tax – who staged one of a number of peaceful protests at Councils today – have questioned why Gardai at South Dublin County Council used brutal and unnecessary force against them, including some plain clothes Gardai. Cannisters of pepper spray were also waved at locals who were manhandled and handcuffed. One is currently being kept in Tallaght Hospital for observation of his injuries.

Aaron Nolan (aged 19, now in hospital):
“I was standing in front of Shane Donnelly when one of the uniformed police pulled me to the ground. I stood up and tried to get in front of Shane again. A stocky man, with a light blue hoody, who I thought was one of the protesters, grabbed me and pushed me against the wall. He then grabbed my head with his two hands and smashed my head against the wall. I fell on the ground and when I was on the ground, he choked me with his two hands. I was dazed and unable to stand as he handcuffed me.”

Arrests in South Dublin County Council of peaceful protesters

The Dublin City campaign organises to protect the bin service

The Indymedia newswire has seen reports from anti-bin tax actions in Drimnagh, Finglas and Ringsend and next Monday evening the first city wide protest of 2006 has been called at City Hall. The councillors will be voting on an emergency motion regarding the non-collection of bins, announced by the city manager three weeks ago, against the vote of the council. Across the city as the council starts to leave rubbish behind, groups are being organised to clear this up in the cold January weather. GAA and Labour clubs, pubs and even the cold streets are seeing meetings taking place as lists of bin collections are drawn up and the Dublin City Anti Bin tax campaign starts to act.

Update: Invasion Of The Wheelie Bin Snatchers

One of the most significant struggles to affect working class people in Ireland in recent years took place in the autumn of 2003. This battle was between the anti-bin tax campaigns and the combined power of the four councils covering the whole of Dublin, the Fianna Fail/PD coalition government and the Irish state. The battle against the bin tax exploded in September 2003 and was a dominant national issue for the rest of the year.

This peak of the ongoing campaign against the bin tax saw households across Dublin refusing to pay the charges, thousands of people taking to the streets, dozens of blockades of bin trucks and 22 people imprisoned. It also saw considerable disagreements emerge amongst different elements within the campaigns. The most visible of these disagreements was over the issue of blockading bin trucks in other areas of Dublin when the struggle in Fingal was underway. The Fingal Campaign and many activists in the rest of Dublin believed that it was necessary to escalate direct action across the entire city. Some others, particularly some forces within the City Council campaign, felt that doing so would be rash.

The Socialist Party, which has played a very prominent role in the anti-bin tax campaigns, has produced a lengthy document outlining what it sees as the key elements of these disagreements. This is not a straightforward historical account of the struggle. It attempts to record the main developments in the battle against the bin tax, deal with the role of socialists in the campaign and to draw lessons for future campaigns.

“The differences of approach that emerged relate directly to what is the best way to build campaigns and conduct struggles. They also relate to the role that socialists should play in the rebuilding of the working class movement, which everybody agrees will be a vital issue in the years ahead. The issues re-surfaced again in the build up to the local elections in June 2004 and have continued on the bin tax and around the debates on how and when to establish a new left party for working class people. The differences are current and very relevant and undoubtedly will come up again and therefore need to be clarified.”

RELATED LINKS
30,000 Word Socialist Party Document
Dermot Connolly On These Issues
Irish Socialist Network On The Campaign
Socialist Party Anti-Bin Tax Archive
Workers Solidarity Movement Anti-Bin Tax Articles
SWP Bin Tax Archive
Indymedia Ireland Bin Tax Campaigns Archive

When the anti bin tax campaign went quiet after the Autumn / Winter of 2003, they were expected by the pundits to return after the local elections in June 2004. Despite a flurry of activity around the estimates the fact that the Council was biding its time meant the campaign focussed on the courts and the council chamber. All the bins were being collected and the courts at least were of some use - with a precedent set that threw the council into legal quandaries as it seemed to imply that 2 years bin tax (2001 / 2002) were invalid and people could claim it back.

Joan Collins, in this Audio interview gives her take on whats happening as the city campaign returns to the streets to deal with bags left behind. They're marching this Saturday at 2pm from the Garden of Remembrance and txt msgs are floating around encouraging bags and wheelie bins to be brought along for the spin. There have been protests around the country in Cork and the Newswire reports bizzare sightings of anti dumping helicopters in Kerry. The reality of dirtier towns, burning rubbish and the disappearing waiver for pensioners is becoming apparent.

Report on the March in Dublin, 26th Feb 05

From the newswire (by Indy Council Correspondent):

The issue of waste charges came up in City Council last night but while opposition was as strong as ever, the lack of a coherent strategy to do away with the Charges is glaringly evident.

It is only the start of October and already the issue of Bin Charges and the approach to the Estimates in Dublin City Council has started to become an issue.

At last night’s Council meeting the councillors discussed a draft submission on behalf of the Council to the review of local government funding. The 20 page document contained a wealth of information on the current funding and expenditure of the Council and suggested a number of ways to raise funds in future.

These included a hotel bed tax of two Euros a night and the end to the exemption for state occupied buildings from rates. Both would require Leinster House approval but the latter could mean as much as 24 million Euros a year for the Council, substantially more than the waste charges raise. One of the other options however attracted the anger of Sinn Fein and Independent councillors, namely the proposal to make domestic householders pay the full cost of the waste collection service, which would lead to a massive increase in charges.