Binmen in south Co Dublin stopped working 12 days ago. Nuala Haughey talks to residents who have had no rubbish collected since Christmas
By NUALA HAUGHEY
RESIDENTS in parts of Tallaght's Fettercaim estate in south Dublin made a bonfire at the weekend. They doused hundreds of bin bags of domestic rubbish with petrol and set them ablaze.
"It was either that or the place was going to be crawling in rats. There's 30 babies on this road and there was a load of nappies to be burned," said Ms Sylvia Davis, who burned "exactly 32" bin bags.
Ms Davis, from Kilmartin Drive, said her household rubbish had not been collected by South Dublin County Council since Christmas due to problems over changes in the collection route.
Refuse collectors went on strike 12 days ago because of a disagreement with the council over how the new system would operate. Their action affects some 66,000 households in an area which stretches from the River Liffey at Palmerstown and Lucan to Rathfarnham and as far south as the border with counties Wicklow and Kildare.
The dispute is over an agreement made last December to reduce the refuse collection routes in the area from 17 to 12. This means daily collections from 1,200 households instead of 800. The council said the agreement provided that all refuse on each day's routes would be collected regardless of finishing time.
It said this would mean collecting rubbish from a maximum of 1,200 households, which would generally amount to two lorryloads a day on each route.
The main union involved, SIPTU, said the agreement was to collect two lorry-loads of rubbish or cover 1,200 houses, whichever came first.
It said the agreement meant that refuse collectors could finish their day's work once they had collected two lorry-loads. This is regardless of whether they had collected rubbish from all 1,200 houses each day.
SIPTU says the dispute has meant that some houses towards the end of routes have had no refuse collections since January because the collectors had filled two lorries before they got there.
Before the strike, collections were not being made at all houses in three out of the 12 new routes, said Mr John Glennon of SIPTU. They include parts of Tallaght Templeogue, Greenhills and Newcastle contacted yesterday by The Irish Times.
The council said it asked SIPTU for talks to try to solve the dispute last Monday. The union had not received an invitation but was prepared to talk to the council Mr Glennon said. He warned that the strike could be extended to workers in other sections of the council next week.
Parts of Tallaght's Jobstown Fettercairn and Drumcairn estates are already strewn with assorted domestic rubbish. Seagulls, crows dogs, cats and horses scavenge in bin bags dumped in green spaces. Many residents were concerned the rubbish would attract rats and mice which may spread infections.
In the recently built Montpellier Estate on the outskirts of Jobstown, residents have had no refuse collections since they moved in in mid-November.
Ms Gemma O'Brien said her husband was taking the family rubbish to a dump in work. "It's disgusting. I've a pain in my face going out and picking up rubbish," she said, pointing to the young shrubs in her front lawn which were littered with debris.
Many residents have piled their bulging bin bags up in their back gardens. In Newcastle, the residents' association hired a truck to bring rubbish to the dump. One Jobstown resident said she hired a skip to get rid of her waste. Residents in other areas, such as Templeogue, have been taking rubbish - to the Bohernabreena dump despite pickets.
Ms Angela Doyle, from Tallaght's Killinarden estate, cannot let her two-year-old son Shaun play in the garden because of the pile up. "I don't see why I should hire a skip ... The council should get off its butt and clear it up," she said.