Bin tax campaigners defiant in face of court order

Anti bin-tax campaigners Deputy Joe Higgins and Cllr Clare Daly today said they will face jail or fines in the High Court tomorrow rather than abandon their protest against waste charges.

Both will be charged tomorrow morning with breaking an interim order sought by Fingal County Council prohibiting their involvement in a blockade of rubbish collections as part of their campaign against the bin tax. They face imprisonment and or a fine.

Speaking in Dublin today Mr Higgins said "clearly we don't relish in any sense the idea of facing imprisonment or facing fines, no one would do so lightly. But to be silenced now by these threats would be to abandon the communities."

Our support for the campaign and the residents who are protesting will not in any way be curtailed by the threats hanging over us Socialist Party TD Mr Joe Higgins

The dispute centres on a council decision on September 9th to cease collecting bins from houses that have not paid refuse charges of up to €260 per annum. The Anti-Bin Tax Campaign, led by Cllr Clare Daly, opposes the bin charges and the non-collection of refuse and hasblocked the paths of refuse trucks in protest.

Ms Emmer Coleman, a spokeswoman for the council this evening said three trucks remained trapped, at Santry, Kinsealy and Rivervalley. She said the protest was "juvenile and was petering out, as expected".

Mr Higgins described the bin tax as yet another example of the unfair taxation system imposed by Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats. "In the last two budgets Charlie McCreevy has given the multinationals and the rich in this country a €1.5 billion tax cut. But they expect working class people to pay the bin tax.

And he said it was not lost on people that the Council was threatening to jail him while none of the Ansbacher tax-cheats were even taken to court.

"Our support for the campaign and the residents who are protesting will not in any way be curtailed by the threats hanging over us," he said.

The Socialist Party TD was joined at the press conference by Mr Finian Mc Grath, the Independent TD for Dublin North Central. He said €54 million was owed nationwide in unpaid bin charges, indicating resistance to the scheme.

He also claimed that only 14 per cent of waste to landfill comes from householders.

Yesterday High Court judge Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill granted an interlocutory order baring Mr Higgins, Ms Daly and 13 named others from interfering with bin collections.