Wheelie bins are bad for binmen. So declared a high wallah of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council on the Marian Finucane programme on RTE radio recently. The bins might be too heavy and the men might do themselves an injury.
He was responding to a humble citizen who had complained that his wheelie, which had been emptied without fuss for the last couple of years, was no longer being handled. Yes, conceded the high wallah, there was a bit of a dispute about wheelies in some areas of the borough. Talks were going on with the men involved and in the meantime the citizenry afflicted should try using plastic bags or old-fashioned conventional bins.
What about dogs and foxes, asked the citizen, do you want the streets to be strewn with rubbish? The wheelies had not been emptied for weeks now yet no-one had been informed about the dispute. Ah, it would all be sorted out in due course, said the high wallah. A standard wheelie might be introduced which would be acceptable to the men.
So the officials and the workers of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council will eventually arrive at a cosy solution which will, no doubt, result in smaller wheelies, higher pay and, not far down the road, another charge levied on the citizens who have not been consulted or even advised why their existing wheelies are not been emptied.
Cavalier attitude
No-one disputes that binmen are entitled to protect their health and seek reasonable remuneration for their arduous labour. But the arrogant approach of the council to this problem is typical of the cavalier attitude displayed by its officials towards the people of the borough, if my personal experience is anything to go by.
Just over two years ago I decided to withhold the payment of £230 for domestic water charges because of the unsatisfactory nature of the supply and because letters of complaint about same had gone unanswered. Water to my house was frequently reduced to a trickle or cut off completely during the night without warning. At the time working patterns in the family made a reliable supply over the night hours highly desirable, if not essential. So I advised the council that while I accepted that water had to be cut off from time to time for maintenance and repair I was reluctant to consider paying the charges until I got an assurance that the supply to my taps would be curtailed only in exceptional circumstances, such as a burst in the mains.
Legal costs
Assurance and reply came there not. Threats of disconnection and hefty reconnection and legal costs came aplenty, including one from the Receivable Management Services of Messrs Dun & Bradstreet Ltd., publishers of Stubbs Gazette. Eventually, after another request from me for the courtesy of replies to my previous letters, I got a response saying that "adequacy (sic) of supply does not reduce your liability in any way". Once you are connected to the council's main you are liable for charges, whether water flows in torrents or in trickles.
There followed, from both the finance and law departments, more warnings of disconnection, court proceedings, legal costs ("Costs of £300 have recently been awarded against defaulters by the court in similar cases") and publication of details "in the usual trade gazettes". And still, two years on, no attempt to address my original complaint.
With no hope of reasonable response from the lumpish bureaucracy I decided to try democracy. I sent the file of unanswered correspondence and intimidating threats to a local councillor, Olivia Mitchell, TD, asking if she could do anything to bring the matter to a reasonable and fair conclusion.
"Ongoing difficulties"
Seven days later, following her intervention, a letter came from the Water and Drainage Division apologising (yes apologising) for the problems with my water supply and admitting that "ongoing difficulties can and do arise". The relevant staff had been asked to investigate and if corrective measures were feasible the implementation of such measures would be examined. But no-one told the finance and law departments. The legal proceedings trundled on and in due course I got a bill from the sheriff for the original £230 charge and £67 costs. And an ample flow of water.
So the exercise cost me an extra £67. But it taught me to ignore the cynics (and I used to be one of them) who proclaim that we do not need public representatives to act on our behalf because we can rely on the care and concern of the paid officials. The man with the wheelie bin should write to his local councillor.