A chara, - The hypocrisy of Cllr Eric Byrne and the Labour Party never ceases to amaze me. In his letter on refuse charges in Dublin (September 28t), Cllr Byrne writes of his attempts and those of his party to have the bin tax abolished in Dublin.
Let's put the record straight. The introduction early this year of domestic bin charges was carried by a very narrow vote in Dublin City Council. Central to that retrograde step was the U-turn performed by three Labour Party councillors - O'Brien, Kenny and Creevy (all still Labour Party members) - who voted in favour of them.
Without these three votes and the abstention/non-appearance of half of Sinn FΘin's councillors, there would be no bin charges in Dublin.
It is also worth pointing out that the legislation which allowed for the introduction of local charges was first introduced in the early 1980s by the then Environment Minister, one Dick Spring. Labour and Sinn FΘin have enthusiastically supported these charges in various parts of the country. Cllr Byrne must think the people of Dublin have very short memories.
The Workers' Party is the only political party which has consistently and unwaveringly opposed the double taxation of PAYE workers through domestic service charges since their introduction by Mr Spring all those years ago.
Cllr Byrne has been around long enough and through enough parties to know the facts. -- Is mise,
Seβn ╙ Cionnaith, The Workers' Party, Thomas McDonagh Tower, Ballymun, Dublin 9.