Council in refuse row put on notice

Three councillors have served notice on the manager of Castlebar Town Council over the council's decision to cease the refuse…

Three councillors have served notice on the manager of Castlebar Town Council over the council's decision to cease the refuse collection service on January 5th.

The refuse service for Castlebar, Ballina and Westport councils is provided under the auspices of Mayo County Council.

Councillors Michael Kilcoyne (Ind), Johnny Mee (Lab) and Noel Campbell (SF) served the notice on the director of services, Ray Norton. A section 140 notice empowers councillors to instruct council management to implement certain policy. Specific conditions must be met before the motion can be adopted by two thirds of a sitting council.

The decision to cease the refuse collection service has been a contentious issue between the Mayo County Council and Siptu, with the Labour Court ruling in favour of the council in October.

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Mayo County Council stated that it was losing more than €2 million per annum on the service. The matter was before the national implementation body with a recommendation that both sides re-enter talks. If agreement cannot be reached it was proposed that the issue be referred back to the Labour Court for binding arbitration by early February. Siptu has already issued notice of official industrial action from January 8th.

Mayo county secretary John Condon said the council would proceed with its plan to cease collecting refuse from January 5th.

The council first announced that the refuse collection service would cease from early this year.

This was delayed because of industrial relations issues with Siptu staff. Funding was not allocated in the annual estimates of any council in Mayo for refuse collection this year. The council sought "expressions of interest" in the service.

Earlier this year, several of the main private collectors came together to examine the possibility of forming a new company to take over the council runs. The Competition Authority was notified. Officials visited the private operators' offices and removed documentation. The matter is still under investigation.