The manager of South Dublin County Council has said the debate around outsourcing key services is one that will repeatedly raise its head.

This follows concerns voiced at last night’s monthly meeting over a perceived effort to undermine jobs with private-sector contracts.

Alarm was also raised over the possible impact of the Gateway initiative that would mean the long-term unemployed used in various roles within local authorities in an exchange for a top-up to welfare payments. A motion on the subject was tabled but not debated last night.

Worker protests
Council employees were due to protest both at Gateway and a motion from Fine Gael Cllr William Lavelle that management should "examine the feasibility of the use of private contractors to augment" litter management in the county.

The motion was voted down but not before a long debate in which detractors said no replacement of council staff with private companies should be countenanced.

County manager Daniel McLoughlin told the meeting the issue was “one that we will be revisiting . . . again” in the future, particularly as water and property charges pull the effective delivery of services into sharper focus.

Cllr Lavelle said the point of his motion was to examine the possibility of augmentation and that no matter how hard the council staff work on the problem of litter they could not meet the challenge.