Sir, – Be it water or waste, the standard Irish solution to such problems is to kick the can down the road. How do we know it’s not a cul-de-sac? – Yours, etc,
OLIVER McGRANE,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – I cannot see any logical reason for the introduction of private sector “competition” to the collection of domestic waste in the first place.
The market is fixed by the number of households, and the process does not appear to be prone to innovative breakthrough.
Can there possibly be anything more inefficient, traffic-congesting and environmentally unfriendly than three bin lorries trundling along the same streets, each of them collecting a third of the refuse?
Which politician thought that could even remotely be a good idea? – Yours, etc,
DAVE SLATER,
Kilkea,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – It might have been expected that an intelligent and competent Government would set about tackling the problem of illegal dumping by any means except increasing waste disposal charges. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD BARTON,
Tinahely,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – “Competition” means that, now, at least two operators compete for the same “business” in our estate, meaning that some of us put out bins on Monday and another day, while the rest of us leave out our waste, composting and recycling on Thursday and/or Friday, giving semi-permanent decoration of the estate with blue, brown, green or black roadside “furniture”.
So, the same quantity (or weight, after July 1st) is collected by twice the number of operatives using twice the capital equipment and fuel. Of course each operator is going to have lower profits or impose higher charges.
I do not have an MBA, but even I can see that this pseudo-competition does not make sense for the consumer, and probably not for the operators. – Yours, etc,
JOHN McENEANEY,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – When our bin service was privatised in South Dublin County Council the average costs was €90 per year. It is now, on average, €360 yearly. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DORAN,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.
A chara, – We pay by weight, and we pay a fixed standing charge, and we pay a lifting charge every time a bin is emptied.
So why it is called pay by weight?
What if we only paid the weight portion? – Is mise,
SEAN O’KIERSEY,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.