18 October 2001 Edition

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TDs face bin charge anger in Finglas

"I've never seen anything like it," said an awed local Sinn Féin activist. "They were slaughtered." Last Tuesday night's meeting against the Bin Charges in the north Dublin suburb of Finglas was marked by the unexpected arrival of local TDs Pat Carey from Fianna Fáil and Roisín Shortall of Labour. After months of ignoring the campaign against the Bin Tax in the area, the two elected representatives were attempting to clamber onto the bandwagon and claim to stand up for the people of Finglas. But the people of Finglas had other ideas.

One of the first questions to Shortall was from a member of the audience who pointed out that it was the decision of three Labour party councillors to vote for the Bin Tax that led to it being passed in the first place. When Shortall attempted to deny this the speaker asked what measures had been taken against these councillors and was confidently told they had been expelled.

A silence fell over the crowd as the audience digested this example of the Labour party's ruthless commitment to high standards among its membership. But the speaker wasn't finished yet, "But Ms Shortall, if these councillors were expelled from the party why are they all, including Cllr Eamonn O'Brien from your own constituency, still profiled as Labour party representatives on your party website months after the vote?" (And remain so at time of going to press).

To say the least, Ms Shortall's confused answer was unconvincing. Indeed, a call to the Labour party press office by An Phoblacht confirmed that none of the three councillors had ever been expelled from the party.

Pat Carey came in for some angry criticism as well, when he claimed the reason he never attended these meetings before was that he had not been invited and he only saw fit to attend meetings to which he had been specifically invited. A member of the audience pointed out that having been elected by the people of the area, Carey had a duty, an obligation even, to attend these events as an elected representative.

Cornered, Carey began to backtrack, and claimed, to mounting disbelief, that the reason he hadn't attended any previous meeting was that he had not been aware they were on. Angrily, another member of the audience leapt to his feet: "Mr Carey, you have an office in the middle of Finglas village and before every meeting that area is plastered with posters advertising them. To be honest, I've sometimes stuck them to the door to your office, so don't tell me you weren't aware of the meeting."

Shortly after, their double act complete and with the indignation of local people ringing in their ears, Shortall and Carey, the Laurel and Hardy of Finglas, left the meeting and shuffled off into the night, claiming they had commitments elsewhere.

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland