THE Progressive Democrats TD for Dublin South, Ms Liz O'Donnell, has called on the local council in her area to use private contractors to remove the mounting piles of rubbish in the area.
There have been no collections in South Dublin County Council for three weeks because of a strike involving refuse workers, and some areas have not had collections since Christmas.
Ms O'Donnell expressed surprise that no meetings to discuss ending the dispute were planned before next Monday. "Surely the threat to public health posed by the piles of rubbish mounting outside the homes of 62,000 affected households requires far more urgent action than we have seen to date", she said.
She asked the council to consider inviting private contractors to clear the backlog of rubbish while negotiations continue.
"The householders of South Dublin should not be the ones paying the heaviest price for intransigence, on either side. Will we have to wait for a child to contract a serious infection before appropriate action is taken?" she asked.
A spokesman for the council said yesterday that three days of meetings with the unions were planned to begin on Monday. Over the weekend the newly agreed independent chairman for the talks, Mr Stephen Treacy, would be studying the submissions of both sides. He said that there were no plans to bring in private contractors, but the situation was being monitored.