Refuse collections in Fingal County Council's catchment area are facing major disruption this morning, when the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign plans to block refuse trucks unless all bins are collected.
The county council has told its employees to cease collecting bins from today from houses which have not paid its refuse charges of up to €260 per annum. The Anti-Bin Tax Campaign said residents plan to block the paths of refuse trucks, using wheelie bins.
The chairwoman of the campaign, Cllr Clare Daly, told a news conference in Dublin yesterday that, while the protesters would treat the refuse workers "with respect", residents were determined collections would not be allowed to proceed.
"Quite simply, residents cannot afford to allow this to happen. A huge number of residents are opposed to the tax and haven't paid it. And they are adamant that either all of the bins will be collected or none of them will."
Mr Joe Higgins TD, who has helped organise the protest, said: "Most, if not all, of the bin collections will not be allowed to proceed. We are expecting very significant numbers of residents to intervene.
"It will be an example of peaceful people power and peaceful civil disobedience."
The Government had "backed down" on water charges when met with widespread opposition from the public in the 1990s, he added, and he was confident the same would happen with refuse collections.
The protests would continue daily until the council agreed to collect all bins. Mr Higgins said: "What happens in Fingal is very important in relation to what will happen elsewhere in Dublin on bin charges."
A spokesman for SIPTU, which represents refuse collectors, said it was unfair that crews working on refuse trucks were being put "on the front line by management".
Fingal County Council said 25 per cent of households had refused to pay the refuse charges.
