Price cap must be placed on private waste operators

Cllr Anthony Kelly has said that he was against the sale of Wexford County Councils refuse service and fears that the people of the county will face increasing bin charges in the years ahead unless measures are taken to cap charges immediately. The Wexford Sinn Féin Rep. has also called on Wexford County Council to insure that there will be no redundancies by redeploying their refuse collection workers in other areas.

Cllr Kelly said;
“Wexford Sinn Féin is opposed to the privatisation of the council waste collection service. We believe that in the long term this could leave the door open for private refuse companies to introduce huge price increases. I understand that promises have been made to leave fees unchanged for this year, but what about next year and the year after that? Sinn Féin will be calling on the Minister to introduce new regulations to govern what these private companies can charge and to impose a price cap.”

“I am also concerned that Wexford County Council refuse workers may become victims of this sell off. The Council needs to redeploy these workers as soon as possible and insure that there will be no redundancies as a result of the sale.”

“The selling of the County Councils refuse service at a time when Minister Phil Hogan is asking every household to pay an annual charge to cover local authority services is bewildering. Are the people of County Wexford to believe that their €100 Household Charge is going to cover local authority services when privatisation is the current buzz word in most council chambers? Is it to be a case that we must pay more for less?”