The dispute over non-payment of bin charges in two Dublin local authority areas has entered its second week with increasing acrimony between protesters and those who have paid the fee.
Protesters blockaded a bin truck in the Dublin 15 area this morning, preventing council staff from making collections, according to Fingal County Council.
A spokeswoman said the protesters had been moved on by gardai. A Garda spokesman said he was not aware of any trouble due to the protests.
Fingal council secured an injunction against the protesters, including a number of its own councillors, last week. The High Court will proceed to a full hearing tomorrow. Both the council and the protesters are expected to be represented.
A spokeswoman for Fingal County Council told ireland.comrefuse trucks would return later today to collect tagged bins from any areas that had been missed in recent days due to the blockades.
She said trucks which had been prevented from making collections in the north Dublin areas of Skerries, Balbriggan and Rush on Friday had later returned and successfully collected tagged bins.
The spokeswoman said residents ringing the council's offices were becoming "increasingly angry" that their bins had not been collected.
In Ringsend, which falls within Dublin City Council's remit, residents claimed a victory after bins belonging to people who had not paid charges were collected yesterday.
A spokesman for the Dublin Campaign Against the Bin Tax in the Ringsend area said this was "in direct contradiction" to statements made by the city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, that the service would be withdrawn from those who had not paid their bills.
However, a spokesman for Dublin City Council said those who had not paid their bin charge would be pursued through the courts. "Collections from areas where people had not paid their bin charge would be discontinued "on a phased basis", he added.
The spokesman estimated that around 20 per cent of those using Dublin City Council's bin service had not paid the annual charge.