Councillor to invoke rarely-used provision in bid to solve Dublin 7's bin bag conundrum
A Dublin city councillor is looking to invoke a rarely-used provision of the Local Government Act in order to force the authority’s hand and further delay Dublin 7’s bin bag ban.
Ellen O’Doherty, the Social Democrats representative for the north inner city, is planning to invoke Section 140 of the Act to push the bin bag ban date beyond its current October 17 deadline.
The proposal, which would override the council’s plan to implement the localised bag ban on October 17, is set to be voted on by councillors at their next monthly meeting on October 5.
If passed by a majority, it would delay the process from proceeding until the Department of Climate publishes its ongoing feasibility study into transitioning Ireland’s waste collection system towards a tender-based model.
It would also provide the council with “a reasonable opportunity” to consider its findings before moving forward.
Dublin City Council (DCC) has already delayed the next phase of the waste strategy from July to October to allow for consultation with affected residents, but a report on the the consultation has yet to be published.
When asked about the results of the consultation, a DCC spokesperson said they had no comment.
A Department of Climate spokesperson said that it doesn’t have a “firm date” for the release of the waste feasibility study, but it would be “in the coming months”.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Ms O’Doherty said the decision was a “big move”, but one she feels is justified considering the outcry from Dublin 7 residents.
“It’s very rare that section 140 of the Local Government Act is invoked by a councillor, but I feel like it’s really appropriate in this case,” she said.
“It’s been very clear that this plan is being pushed ahead and the residents, while very vocal and organised, do feel like they’re coming up against it time and time again.
“And really, what I felt, and my co-signatories agree, is that there needs to be a pause on this because the residents really need to be listened to here.”
She said that the issues presented by residents are complex and varied, and residents’ mobility, access arrangements and the public realm need to be fully considered.
“And fundamentally, in these houses, there’s not the space. The hallways, the back gardens are often tight or narrow. I lived in one of these terraced houses in Stoneybatter for years, and we could not have pulled a wheelie bin through our house.”
A protest was held yesterday outside City Hall on Dublin’s Parliament Street yesterday evening, organised by Stoneybatter-native Caoimhe McSharry Daly.
“We would probably like it to be fully stopped until a complete analysis has been done with the area on a bottom-up approach rather than, let’s impose this and see how people feel about it,” she told the Irish Independent.
“That’s very much what the public consultation felt like. It’s a pre-determined decision.”
Ms McSharry Daly said the goal is to get the Section 140 passed by councillors on Monday, maintaining the status quo for now while further engagement takes place.
“Other cities have started having these communal underground bins, which is paid for by your taxpayer money.
“And obviously, that’s a very, very long-term goal, but we want the current plan to be a short-term plan until then instead of this rubbish plan being forced on us without looking at what other cities are doing.”
Residents of Dublin 7 in attendance at the protest held placards with messages such as: ‘Down with this sort of bin’ and ‘No more rubbish excuses, DCC’.
Others held signs targeting DCC’s head of waste services, Barry Woods.
Richard Pender, who lives on Stoneybatter’s Manor Street, said many of the houses in the area simply don’t have the space for wheelie bins.
“Most of Stoneybatter is made up of artisan dwellings,” he said. “They have a very small backyard, most of them have built on it to extend the house, and moved the bathrooms indoors.
“And these fellas want to put three wheelie bins into each house. Now where would you put them, with stinking food in it? And most of the houses have two steps into them, so if you were over, like me at the minute, I’m recovering from a broken back. Can you imagine if I was trying to pull two bins in, or three bins at a time.”
He said DCC staff that had been in touch with residents were “quite rude” and “intransigent”, and didn’t seem interested in negotiating with locals.
“I don’t know what the answer is, but I’d say this much; how is God’s name could you have three wheelie bins in your hallway in a small two up, two down townhouse?”
The council has been banning bin bag presentations from segments of the city since November last year, with the first two phases already in place in the north inner city and south inner city.