Higgins and Daly released to resume their opposition

The jailed anti-bin-charge protesters Mr Joe Higgins TD and Cllr Clare Daly were due to be released from Mountjoy Prison this…

The jailed anti-bin-charge protesters Mr Joe Higgins TD and Cllr Clare Daly were due to be released from Mountjoy Prison this morning after serving one-month sentences for disrupting refuse collections.

Mr Higgins was expected to be freed from the training unit just after 9 a.m., while Ms Daly was due to leave the women's prison a short time later.

However, the Socialist Party said the TD would await his colleague's release before they make a joint statement to media outside the prison.

The duo will then spend time with their families, before addressing a public rally on the bins dispute in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin, tonight. Local authorities are continuing to clear the refuse left uncollected as a result of this week's protests.

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Dublin City Council said it hoped that bags and bins not collected last Tuesday and Wednesday would be taken away by today. But it added that any refuse still in place this evening should be taken in by householders to await the next scheduled collection.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said collections prevented last Tuesday would be made today, while bins due for removal last Wednesday would be collected next Wednesday instead.

A spokesman for the anti-bin-charge campaign said that a number of "estate blockades" were imposed yesterday throughout the city and county, but admitted the protest was more low-key than on other days.

The day's main focus was on preparations for last night's Late Late Show debate between the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, and protesters, the spokesman said.

The campaign had accepted "under protest" the Late Late Show's arrangement of an interview with Mr Cullen and contributions from campaigners in the audience.

The group is also considering some form of demonstration at Leinster House next week to mark Mr Higgins's return to the Dáil, but no plans have yet been made.

Frank McNally

Frank McNally

Frank McNally is an Irish Times journalist and chief writer of An Irish Diary