Most of Dublin's bin collections are expected to be seriously disrupted today, after a sharp escalation in anti-bin charge protests resulted in more than 50,000 households being left without a refuse service yesterday. Carl O'Brien reports
With 15 protesters already in jail, at least 20 more are due to appear before the High Court in the coming days after flouting injunctions preventing the obstruction of refuse collections.
Gardaí are also investigating the circumstances surrounding injuries sustained by one protester, who fell from a local authority lorry as it drove at speed out of a bin depot.
Anti-bin tax campaigners say up to 250 protesters plan to shut down most of the city's bin collection for a second day today by placing protests on all seven depots from 7.30 a.m.
However, a Dublin City Council spokesman warned last night of a major health and safety risk to the public if tens of thousands of bins are not collected in the coming days.
"If waste continues to build up and is not being collected in public areas, it will inevitably become a major health and safety issue," the spokesman said.
"Essentially, there is a small group of people preventing bin collections for the majority.
"They're holding the entire city to ransom." In a sign that the protest may escalate, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council indicated yesterday it will also seek a legal injunction to stop protests, which could result in further arrests.
The other three Dublin local authorities have already obtained similar injunctions.
In another twist to the escalating controversy, bin collectors at the Ballymount depot in the South Dublin County Council area were threatened with temporary dismissal after they refused to pass anti-bin tax pickets. Some of the workers later joined the pickets in protest at the local authority's action.
Cllr Ruth Coppinger, of the Fingal Anti-Bin Tax Campaign, said the workers' action showed that opposition was growing to the decision to jail 15 protesters.
"The campaign is strong and won't be intimidated by the threat of more jailings," she said.
"We are prepared to keep this protest going for as long as it takes."
Two of the protesters, Mr Joe Higgins TD and Cllr Claire Daly, of the Socialist Party, are due to be released later this week.
The protest organisers say they will continue their campaign until the ending of the local authorities' policy of jailing protesters and not collecting bins from households which have not paid the charge.
Campaigners also expressed serious concern at events which led to the hospitalisation of a protester, Mr Joe Mooney, after he was hit by a local authority truck. The incident was captured on video by a protester and broadcast on television last night.
After his release from hospital with minor cuts and bruises, Mr Mooney rejected suggestions he and others had been acting irresponsibly.
He said his leg was caught in the front of the van; otherwise he would have got out of the way of the vehicle.
Dublin City Council, which described the sequence of events as an accident, is also investigating the incident, as are the Garda authorities.
Local authorities said yesterday a sharp increase in the numbers who have paid their waste charges has weakened the position of anti-bin tax protesters.
The proportion of householders who have paid their waste charges in individual local authority areas has increased from 60 per cent before the protests, to between 70 and 80 per cent.
Dublin City Council was the worst-affected local authority area yesterday, as more than 30,000 households were left without a refuse service, while 22,000 households in South Dublin and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council areas were also affected.
Fingal County Council said that, despite a small protest, it collected bins as normal and expected to do so again today. It says just 200 bins remain to be collected following protests in recent weeks.