Councillor Brid Smith, People Before Profit has condemned ‘the legalised extortion’ of a €100 standing charge being imposed by Greyhound for waste collection in the Dublin City Council area.
On Friday Dublin Corporation binmen collected the city’s waste for the last time as The Greyhound Company takes over the service from today.
Cllr Brid Smith has expressed grave concerns over three aspects of the new arrangement:
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Information on the exact financial arrangement between Dublin City Council and Greyhound are being withheld from elected representatives. Under the guise of ‘commercial sensitivity’ an insidious form of censorship has been imposed. But the people of Dublin have every right to scrutinise arrangements made with private companies. What right do unelected city managers have to do deals without public transparency’
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Dublin City Council has given Greyhound the right to pursue people who owe the council money for waste charges. No information has been provided on how much money will go back to the council or what cut Greyhound will get. Instead a private company has been given the right to harass people who are already stressed out by huge bills.
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The workers of Dublin City Council – who have given loyal service over the years have been treated in a disgraceful manner. They have been given no guarantees about their earnings – but have been told to turn up each morning this week like ‘spailpin fanachs” to find out where they will be working. This is no way to treat workers in the 21st century.