Press Releases
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.”
For further comment:
Colm Stephens 087 2947100
colm.stephens@peoplebeforeprofit.ie
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Press Release: Nurses face Job Losses in Mater Hospital
Colm Stephens, People Before Profit Alliance Local Election Candidate in the North Inner City has learnt that front line staff including nurses are likely to lose their jobs in the Mater Hospital. Unions representing staff in the Hospital are in negotiations with management and are trying to make sure that the affect will be a small as possible. “I have heard from nurses that contract staff who are approaching the end of their contracts have most to fear. They are not being told if they will be kept on or not. This means that nurses from overseas cannot renew their visas and are living with a double uncertainty – in a few weeks they might not have a job and might be forced to leave the country.”
I have also spoken today to a mother whose daughter is a student nurse and who will qualify next year. “After I spent thousands in putting my daughter through college, she now has almost no chance of finding a job”, the mother told Colm Stephens.
He noted that the nurses who will lose their jobs are currently paying the full public service levy which was introduced because the Government argued that public servants had job security and ‘gold standard’ pensions. Now many nurses are facing the dole or a flight back home.
He added, “The cutbacks in front-line services in our hospitals come at a time when the Government is actively planning to sink billions of euros of taxpayers’ money into the banks. This shows that Fianna Fáil and the Greens’ priority is the financial health of the bankers and the property developers that are in hock to them rather than the health of the people.”
For further comment contact:
Colm Stephens 087 294 7100
Niall Smyth 087 69 88 540
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Monday, March 30th 2009
Press Release:
Privatisation and service cuts have led to bin collection fiasco says local election candidate
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.”
For further comment:
Colm Stephens 087 2947100
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Thursday, 26th March 2009
Press Release: Privatisation and service cuts have led to bin collection fiasco says local election candidate
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.”
For further comment: Colm Stephens 087 294710 or colmstephens@gmail.com
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Thursday 11th December 2008
Press Release:
Collapse of Croke Villas PPP Regeneration Scheme
People Before Profit Alliance local election candidate in the North Inner City area, Colm Stepehens 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.”
*reference http://www.irishconstruction.com/page/177
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Monday November 3rd 2008
Press Release:
Budget Protest on Bertie Aherne’s Constituency Office
The Dublin Central Branch of People Before Profit Alliance will be holding a protest at the constituency office of Fianna Fail TDs Bertie Aherne and Cybrian Brady. The protest will be at 5.30pm next Tuesday November 4th.
A spokesperson for People Before Profit, Mr Colm Stephens, said “All those who are outraged by the budget should let their local Fianna Fail TDs know how they feel. Some are saying that if Bertie Aherne was leading the country these cuts would not have happened. But he voted with the government to cut class sizes and eliminate the free book scheme. He also voted to remove medical cards from pensioners. Its time he got the message that this unacceptable“.
This protest is part of an ongoing campaign by the People Before Profit Alliance against the budget.
For more information contact:
Colm Stephens 087 2947100 or
Eddie Conlon 087 6775468
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