Cork Corporation's rubbish collection system was not a health hazard to the city's citizens, the High Court held yesterday.
Mr Con O'Connell, an alderman, of Hillview Estate, Tramore Road, Cork, had told the court the corporation had introduced a charge for the collection and disposal of domestic refuse and he, as a disabled person, had been granted a waiver from the charges.
Under the "sticker system" on wheelie bins, other people who had not paid their service charge or obtained a waiver were not having their refuse collected. As a result, large mounds of rubbish had been mounting up and creating a serious health hazard.
He claimed the non-collection of household waste constituted an abrogation of the statutory obligations of the corporation. The corporation did not have the right to create a health hazard when it could pursue servicecharge defaulters through the courts.
Mr Justice Butler yesterday told Mr James Connolly SC, for the local authority, that the courts were very reluctant to interfere in administration matters. He had examined photographs put into evidence by Mr O'Connell and from what he could glean from them nothing remiss appeared to have arisen. He did not feel there was any evidence of a risk of a health hazard to Mr O'Connell or his family which would justify the court interfering with the local authority's scheme.