Four members of Cork City Council yesterday occupied the office of the city manager, Mr Joe Gavin, for several hours in protest at the council's refusal to collect bags without the appropriate tags.
Green Party Cllr Chris O'Leary, Socialist Party Cllr Mick Barry and Sinn Féin Cllrs Jonathan O'Brien and Annette Spillane met Mr Gavin to discuss the issue of bags of rubbish which are remaining uncollected.
Under a system introduced two weeks ago, householders in Cork are charged a standing annual fee of €255, and then must tag their bin with either €3 or €5 tags depending on their size to ensure they are collected by council staff.
But the four councillors have argued that the new system is proving far too costly for many householders, and they have claimed that bags left out without tags should still be collected to prevent a health hazard.
Mr O'Leary said they decided to occupy Mr Gavin's office after they failed to obtain assurances from him that the uncollected rubbish would be removed by council staff.
"There are now thousands of black bags lining the streets of Cork - we estimate that there must be at least 2,000 to 3,000 and it's increasing all the time, and the city manager's only response so far has been to put illegal dumping stickers on the bags.
"While it is vital to tackle the issue of illegal dumping, simply leaving the bags on the streets, as is currently happening, is not the answer.
As a result we are now faced with a serious health crisis - it has been reported that rats have been seen near some of the bags in the city."
But Mr Gavin strongly rejected claims that there was a waste crisis in the city, and said that the vast majority of householders are compliant with the new system, with most people putting out tagged bins and putting out dry recyclables for separate collection.
"The vast majority of people are compliant - there's been a huge take-up on people putting out their recyclables - so much so that the amount of waste going into landfill has reduced considerably," said Mr Gavin.
"But there are small isolated pockets where people are putting out their rubbish without tags and those people are showing no regard for their neighbours or public spaces - some of it is orchestrated, some isn't, but we will prosecute anyone who disposes rubbish illegally."
