Sir, – Fintan O'Toole is right ("Trashing the concept of a public service", Opinion & Analysis, July 8th). The locked-out Greyhound workers deserve the total support of everyone who believes that decent pay and conditions are worth upholding and that the race to the bottom should be stopped. They have my wholehearted support.
However, Fintan’s understanding of the history of this issue is somewhat flawed. The privatisation of the bin service, the abolition of the waiver for those on low incomes and the waste of €96 million on the Poolbeg incinerator all stem from the removal of all powers on waste matters from elected councillors.
That transfer of power was the one and only victory of the “anti-bin tax brigade”. Those who advocated a “don’t pay” policy left Dublin City Council with debts of nearly €20 million. That gave the city management the excuse to get rid of the service. – Yours, etc,
Cllr DERMOT LACEY,
Beech Hill Drive,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – Fintan O'Toole's column and Jack O'Connor's interview on Morning Ireland highlight eloquently the dangers to workers' conditions of the present cut-throat competitive mode in the disposal of public waste. But there is also a serious health hazard when the quality of waste disposal services is determined by the quantity of money to be made in providing an essential public good. Could I suggest this is not just a "race to the bottom" for workers but a "rat race to the bottom" for all of us? – Yours, etc,
PADRAIG YEATES
Station Road,
Pertmarnock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole correctly laments the loss of the publicly operated bin collection service in Dublin city but omits to fully explain how and why that council’s bin collection service was privatised in the first place.
Responsibility for the loss of this well-run council service can be traced right back to the populist far-left’s long-running and lamentable campaign to oppose the concept of a charge to fund a safe and sustainable domestic refuse collection and disposal service, operated by people represented by trade unions and who were paid a fair, living wage.
This campaign encouraged householders not to pay, thereby putting the viability of the public collection service at risk and precipitating the Fianna Fáil-PD government to remove important waste policy decision powers from the hands of democratically elected councillors.
As the Greyhound workers fight against the prospect of crippling pay cuts and as citizens like Mr O’Toole lament the loss of their public bin collection service, we should not forget who is responsible for creating the circumstances which have allowed this sorry situation to come to pass. – Yours, etc,
GERALD NASH, TD
Leinster House,
Dublin 2.