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.

Remind our welfare-cutting Government that we haven’t gone away

Join our picket: 2 pm, Saturday, 16th January
at the Criminal Courts of Justice on Parkgate Street.

Dublin City Council play Scrooge. from Paula Geraghty on Vimeo.

Fianna Fail introduced the Budget attacking the public sector, the poorest in Irish society and public service users.
It was the turn of Labour and Fine Gael to add to the burden of pensioners, carers and those on social welfare and other government supports by voting for the Council Estimates. This got rid of the Bin Tax waiver scheme, increased waste charges for residents by 5% and reducing commercial rates by 2%.

A protest was called at short notice outside Dublin City Hall.

Above video: See and hear Brid Smith and Joan Collins (both from People Before Profit) and other councillors; Cllrs Louise Minihan (Ind), Cieran Perry, (Ind),  give their opinions on what was happening and what Dublin residents can do.

THE “vindictive” and sustained attacks on a non-national family in Clondalkin, which included a petrol bomb attack on their house, have shocked a councillor who visited with them on December 3.Following up upon a query he raised with South Dublin County Council’s Joint Policing Committee, People Before Profit Cllr Gino Kenny spoke to the family who have been harassed for over six months.

He said: “When I was out canvassing before the elections in the Summer, I came across two cases and, with one case in particular, I was shocked by how bad it was. It was very vindictive and carried out just because of (the colour of their skin).

“They had windows smashed, someone tried to burn out their car and a petrol bomb was thrown through a window and left the carpet burned. It was lucky that no-one was seriously harmed.  Cllr Kenny added: “I dropped by on Thursday and the family were still shaken. By all accounts the attacks have not stopped.”

The attacks were reported to the gardaí and are one of seven reported instances of racially motivated criminal damage to homes of ‘minority groups’ in South West Dublin this year.  A similar incident occurred in June of this year when a Congolese family were relocated to another house in South Dublin by the council from the Lindisfarne area, where they had been subject to damage to their home and car.