South Dublin County Council says it hopes to clear the backlog of uncollected Christmas refuse by today. Collections have been hampered by abnormally high absenteeism rates since the Christmas period and there are still 3,000 homes in the council area with uncollected refuse.
The council is advising householders in the affected areas to leave out their bins today for collection.
The senior administrative officer for environmental services, Mr Gary Keogh, said yesterday that the current absenteeism is not due to industrial relations problems. Forty out of the county's 90 refuse collectors reported sick last week.
Of these 19 produced medical certificates and the rest took uncertified leave. Most of those on uncertified leave have returned to work. Workers still absent are being referred to a medical referee.