​Fianna Fáil candidate for Dublin Fingal Senator Darragh O’Brien maintains that charging for green bins is a retrograde step. “This is yet another charge and will lead to more illegal dumping,” he warned.

“While Fianna Fáil supports the replacement of flat rate bin charges with pay-by-weight bin charges for households, we do not believe that a charge should be imposed on green bins  as this will discourage recycling by households.

“In government, Fianna Fáil doubled the percentage of municipal waste that is recycled from 20% to 40% from 2002 to 2011. However, charging households for green bins will discourage recycling and could reverse the hard won progress made in this area.

“While the EPA says that 87% of households will pay less for waste under a pay-by-weight charge, larger families (about 4.5% or 170,000 households) could face much higher charges. This is fundamentally unfair and needs to be addressed by giving families an allowance for children. A waiver should also be introduced for low income households who just cannot afford to pay.


“In addition, legislation has to be introduced to establish greater transparency and consistency from all the private operators so that consumers can compare pricing plans and obtain best value. Finally, a mechanism must be put in place for apartment dwellers and those living in areas where they cannot store wheelie bins to ensure that they get fair pricing,” urged Senator O’Brien.

​Fianna Fáil candidate for Dublin Fingal Senator Darragh O’Brien today pledged his support for the Simon Community’s campaign which calls on the government to immediately address the housing and homelessness crisis.

“The current crisis is an absolute scandal. Tackling homelessness is a priority for me and for Fianna Fáil. We take it very seriously. I wholeheartedly support the Simon Community’s election manifesto and I think it is a pity that there are no government representatives here today.”

The Simon Community election manifesto calls for immediate action on four fronts – prevention and intervention to prevent homelessness; rapid rehousing so people are not trapped in emergency accommodation; access to affordable housing for all and adequate support for people once they are in housing.
Senator O’Brien, who is the party’s Dublin spokesperson added:  “There is an urgent need to prioritise the homelessness crisis.
 
“While there has been a four-fold increase in the number of people on the social housing list in Fingal, Fine Gael/Labour built fewer than  2 houses in five years in the area. 
 
"In Fingal alone there are 9,000 households on the social housing list, amounting to around 25,000 people.  
 
"Despite all Minister Kelly's posturing, not a single social home was built in Fingal in 2015 and rents are at historic highs. 
 
“Tackling the homelessness and housing crisis needs to be at the top of the agenda for all political parties,” urged Senator O’Brien.