Sligo's controversial move to a privatised refuse collection service begins next Monday, with yet more unrest from local residents.
The decision to privatise the service was taken by the borough council last month, but not before the authority had come to the brink of being abolished for failing to adopt its estimates for the coming year. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, publicly berated the council members, and said they had a responsibility to the people they represented which they weren't carrying out.
Now the residents of one of the estates in the town have voted to keep the refuse service under the control of the local authority.
In a plebiscite in Rathedmond estate, a total of 104 out of 105 opposed privatisation and have handed in a letter of protest to the Ombudsman and the town clerk.
"Residents expressed indignation and anger that the council proceeded to collude with local private companies to create a cartel, which will mean that residents are being locked into a business relationship with a monopoly", said residents' association spokesman, Mr Jim O'Sullivan. "This will lead to overcharging."
He said the residents might yet seek a court injunction against the privatisation system. "We have contacted the Ombudsman and he has agreed to examine our written submission. We are giving further consideration to advice to seek a judicial review to examine how the situation was arrived at."
The council insists the privatised system is to help reduce waste to landfill and to encourage householders to recycle.
Three contractors will provide the service from Monday, two based in Sligo town and one in Ballymote. However, in the past few days waste collection contractors from Cos Mayo and Roscommon have been visiting householders in estates around the town, offering a cheaper service.
The entire furore stems largely from the huge cost of transporting Sligo's waste to a landfill site in Ballina, Co Mayo. The director of services with the county council, Mr Pat Forkan, estimates Co Sligo's waste collection bill at €3 million in the current year, as a result of the charges imposed by Mayo County Council. He describes this as "a phenomenal amount of money".
"It's disappointing that our neighbours are so hard on us," he said. "We are now pushing hard to bring in new waste reduction measures." Waste contractors from Co Sligo are being charged €40 per tonne more than contractors in Co Mayo for disposing of their waste in Ballina.
The arrangement is set to continue. Co Sligo has no landfill site, and its waste was previously transported to landfill sites in Co Donegal. When that arrangement was terminated, Co Mayo stepped in. The cost to Co Sligo of disposing of the waste at Ballina has increased from €70 to €152 per tonne over the last 12 months.
At a meeting last week of senior officials of the local authorities in Connacht, to discuss the Connacht waste management plan, Co Sligo expressed its disquiet at the differential in cost.
"We're bound into this arrangement with Mayo, and to some extent we're over a barrel because of it", said the senior engineer with Sligo County Council's environment department, Mr John McHugh.
"At the meeting we expressed our dissatisfaction at the high cost to us, but we were not very successful. Mayo County Council take the view that the decision to accept Sligo's waste and to charge accordingly was taken by councillors at their estimates meeting, and the officials have no powers to reverse that. It seems we're stuck with it."
Both Sligo's councillors and officials believe they are being penalised for adhering to the principles of the Connacht waste management plan.
Niall Delaney
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