Bin campaign gets dirty

The jailing of Joe Higgins and Clare Daly for campaigning against the unjust bin tax is an outrageous development in an already heated battle in Dublin around refuse charges.

The use of the courts is just the latest bully-boy tactic used to impose this double taxation on householders across Dublin city and county. Fingal and Dublin City Councils have precipitated the current confrontations with residents by refusing to collect refuse from households who are refusing to pay.

Already in Dublin and across the state, councils have been forced to pass similar taxes or face dissolution, with the decision in many cases taken out of the hands of the elected representatives and put into the unelected control of city and county managers.

Unless the people's campaign succeeds, the legacy of this battle is likely to be a bin tax used to augment the public purse, while the much promised but still awaited recycling facilities will turn out to be a polluting incinerator in every region, each an example of public-private partnership, ie. subsidised by taxpayers.