KERRY COUNTY Council has sold its waste collection service to a private operator for under €500,000.
Council management announced in November it would pull out of the collection service within weeks, to save on costs and in view of stringent regulations coming down the line.
It refused to disclose the amount the service was sold for. However, several sources have revealed that the price obtained was just under €480,000.
Waste collection had been incurring losses to the council of €700,000 a year, county manager Tom Curran told councillors, who complained the service was being sold without consultation.
The decision was “an executive function” under the terms of the Waste Management Act, 2011, which meant councillors did not have to be part of it.
Management refused to disclose the price obtained for transferring 7,000 customers, bins and four waste lorries to Killarney Waste Disposal. The Tralee and Listowel services were also sold to the same company.
The council said the price obtained was commercially sensitive information, and the non-disclosure was part of the agreement reached with the private operator.
Fianna Fáil councillors in particular have been furious at the council’s decision.
Cllr Paul O’Donoghue said people around Cahirciveen were now being asked to bring up to three bins together because collection had changed from weekly to fortnightly under the new operator. “We as councillors were assured there would be no changes,” he said.