Bin collection fiasco continues as northside residents left with no collection again’ says Local Election candidate
April 27, 2009 at 2:51 pm | Posted in Environment, People Before Profit, Privatisation | Leave a commentTags: bin collection, colm stephens, dublin, green bins, greyhound, north inner city, People Before Profit
Residents right across the North Side of Dublin who will have noticed a massive deterioration in the service for collection of recycling, both green bins and bags have been hit again as green bins collection was missed again this morning.
These problems have developed since the lucrative contract was awarded to Greyhound Recycling which took over from Oxigen at the beginning of the year. Numerous collections have been missed, green bags have not been delivered, incorrect collection dates have been posted on the website and collection calendars have not been distributed.
Colm Stephens, People Before Profit Alliance candidate in the North Inner City in the upcoming local elections says that he continues to be “been inundated with complaints from residents who are frustrated that they cannot recycle their green waste in the normal way. Without the green bags, for example, they cannot leave their waste for collection as Greyhound won’t collect recycling in black bags.” He himself has been promised green bags from Greyhound on two or three occasions but they never materialised. “People are now forced to put recyclable materials into the ordinary bins that go to land-fill” he added.
“Despite assurances from the company that collection problems were a thing of the past, again residents in areas such as Phibsboro and around the North Circular Road were left without a green bin collection this morning as a result of a error in the calendars produced by the company. These problems are a direct result of the introduction of a privatised service after the imposition of bin charges and the cuts to funding of local government. The Council is trying to do the job on the cheap and ordinary people are paying the price with a second class service.”
Privatisation and service cuts have led to bin collection fiasco says local election candidate
March 26, 2009 at 5:10 pm | Posted in Environment, Privatisation | Leave a commentTags: colm, local election, People Before Profit, Privatisation, recycling, stephens
Residents right across the North Side of Dublin have notice a massive deterioration in the service for collection of recycling, both green bins and bags. These problems have developed since the lucrative contract was awarded to Greyhound Recycling which took over from Oxigen at the beginning of the year. Numerous collections have been missed, green bags have not been delivered, incorrect collection dates have been posted on the website and collection calendars have not been distributed.
Colm Stephens, People Before Profit candidate in the North Inner City in the upcoming local elections says that he has “been inundated with complaints from residents who are frustrated that they cannot recycle their green waste in the normal way. Without the green bags, for example, they cannot leave their waste for collection as Greyhound won’t collect recycling in black bags.” He himself has been promised green bags from Greyhound on two or three occasions but they never materialised. “People are now forced to put recyclable materials into the ordinary bins that go to land-fill” he added.
Colm, a northsider who lives close to Croke Park and who is standing for the People Before Profit Alliance in the upcoming local elections in the North Inner City Electoral area, commented that “These problems are a direct result of the introduction of a privatised service after the imposition of bin charges and the cuts to funding of local government. The Council is trying to do the job on the cheap and ordinary people are paying the price with a second class service.”
Collapse of Croke Villas Regeneration Exposes craziness of reliance on private developers
December 11, 2008 at 8:25 pm | Posted in Development, Privatisation | Leave a commentTags: colm stephens, Croke Villas, local elections, People Before Profit, PPP, regeneration
People Before Profit Alliance local election candidate in the North Inner City area, Colm Stephens expressed his shock at the announcement on 10 December that Dublin City Council’s plans to regenerate Croke Villas using a ‘Public Private Partnership’ (PPP) scheme have collapsed. According to the City Council it has not been possible to negotiate a deal with the developer (Bennett Developments) because of the ‘economic climate and global credit crunch’.
He commented that “Because the developer cannot be guaranteed a profit from the sale of the private part of the development, the whole plan collapses and nothing gets built” and added that “We shouldn’t forget that developer has numerous state contracts including a €55 million project for new government offices in Trim, Co. Meath. The company made a profit of €4.5 million in 2007 but only paid a measly €2,642 in tax! And that was after it paid the directors over €5.8 million in ‘emoluments’!” *
The People Before Profit Alliance believes that it demonstrates the craziness of depending on millionaire private developers to provide public services. Colm Stephens commented that “There is no sign of the millionaires in Bennett Developments showing any solidarity to the taxpayer who gave them massive contracts – so much for their ‘patriotic duty’!”
Colm Stephens added that “After ten year’s wait for regeneration the people of Croke Villas need action and need it fast. It is not yet clear what the Council intends to do but the plans it has announced for the other estates where PPP schemes have also collapsed mean that the Council will build only the minimum amount of social housing. These houses and flats won’t even be completed until 2015! The Council also plans to sell off the bulk of the three other sites to private developers to build shops and private houses in the future.”
He believes strongly that the Council itself should urgently regenerate the whole of the Croke Villas site for social housing and said “It is clear that the people cannot wait around for 10 more years for another millionaire developer to come along when he believes that he can make a profit on the backs of the people.”
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Click here to watch Vincent Browne discuss PPP issue with Rita Fagan (St Michael’s Estate, Inchicore) & others
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