JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Madam, - Cllr Tony Taaffe's flippant dismissal of those who are opposing bin charges (January 21st) is very wide of the mark. What they are opposing are the right-wing policies of this Government that is forcing the withdrawal of vital services, free at the point of delivery, for all.
The collapse of services is due to the Government's "low tax" fiscal policy. It is not possible to provide services without an adequate level of taxation and, just to make matters more unfair, the "low tax" policies are deliberately skewed to favour the wealthiest.
In areas where local authorities have handed the refuse service over to the private sector, charges being levied are so exorbitant that on bin day the lines between the "haves" and the "have-nots" can be clearly seen. One can see the birth of the ghetto society that the "low-tax" policy creates.
Those cities and towns caught up in this private sector free-for-all will see their back streets begin to resemble the ghetto areas of Mary Harney's beloved Boston, home of the Boston School of Economics creed that "greed is good" and in which so-called "wealth creators" are as gods, encouraged to hoard as big a share of the product of their communities as they can get their hands on. Social cohesion and equal opportunity are for pinko liberal wimps.
And to illustrate the perversion of government policy, a millionaire paying €200 a year in bin charges receives a subsidy of €50 through tax relief, leaving a net charge of €150. At the other end of the street, a pensioner outside the direct tax net gets no such subsidy and must find the whole €200. The pensioner is subsidising the refuse charge of the millionaire.
Political responsibility? - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.