Irish primary schools celebrated a victory this week as Independent Newspapers abandoned their “Building for the Future” scheme just weeks after its high-profile launch.
It is the first time a major in-school marketing promotion has been scrapped and is an embarrassing climb down for Independent and their co-sponsors Bank of Ireland.
Firstly, the incinerator is to be run as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), in the contract signed with US firm Covanta the four Dublin local authorities have guaranteed a supply of 300,000 tons of waste per year. If they fail to meet this figure, financial penalities apply. As a result of recycling and recession, total waste is at most under 200,000 tons a year. This leaves DCC with an incentive to produce more waste – either by reducing recycling or importing waste. Importing waste from another EU state is illegal so it would have to come from further afield.
Secondly, DCC have just lost an important courtcase with private waste collectors. They are now no longer obliged to bring their waste to the proposed incinerator.
Thirdly, the costs of this project are immense. To date € 20m has been spent on consultants alone. Its footprint is the size of Croke Parke, its height that of Liberty Hall. The whole thing is to be enclosed in a steel and glass structure.
Youth workers in Shankill have recently learned that due to government cutbacks made by education minister Batt O’Keeffe, the Shanganagh and Rathsallagh Youth Centre soon faces closure.
By Cllr Brid Smith, People Before Profit Alliance. Labour and Fine Gael claim to be in opposition to the Government. Yet even though they have a majority on Dublin City Council, they had no problem passing on cuts in this year’s budget. The government has cut funding to the City Council this year by 6.3%. This amounts to a 20% cut in funding to the biggest council in the country since 2008.
This gives elected councillors a choice – to cut funding to housing, local amenities and services, to increase bin charges, rents and others OR to stand up to the Government.
No prizes for guessing which choice was made.
This budget abolished the waiver for bin collection for everybody on social welfare. It increased bin charges for the rest by 5%. In July the Council will impose VAT on all charges including bins by either 13.5% or 21%.
On top of this the budget for the fire service was cut. Funding to the BASE youth project in Ballyfermot was cut. And council rents for subsidiary earners was increased.
The same budget cut the rates for businesses by 2.4% and gave a further hand out to developers by cutting capital spending on social housing and giving extra to the council to lease property from developers. And all council workers have had their pay cut by over 17% in the last year.
Gerry Carroll MLA and Brid Smith TD have issued a joint statement to condemn both the British and Irish government’s recent rhetoric on refugees and
People Before Profit MEP candidate Bríd Smith TD has condemned the Trinity College fine of €214,000 on the TCD students’ union. Deputy Smith said “Trinity
VOTE LEFT – TRANSFER LEFT Open Letter issued by People Before Profit On June 7th voters will go to the polls to elect new local
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