Drogheda Corporation is considering legal action to try to resolve a standoff with local residents opposed to paying refuse charges. Yesterday, protests by the Drogheda Residents Against Bin Charges and Privatisation Group (DRABCAPG) continued and prevented one lorry from leaving the Moneymore estate and a second one from collecting rubbish for more than an hour.
A spokesman for Drogheda Corporation said 50 per cent of the town's population had paid the £110 annual refuse charge and were entitled to have their rubbish lifted.
The dispute began on Tuesday when refuse collectors with the corporation started to collect only from wheelie-bins with stickers indicating they had paid the charge. Members of the DRAGCAPG followed the lorry and began to throw rubbish into it. This led to concerns about health and safety and the refuse collectors were instructed to stop work.
The lorry was unable to leave the estate on Tuesday night and was still there, with a crowd close by and a car parked in front of it, yesterday evening.
The corporation spokesman said similar actions when a second lorry began its rounds yesterday morning forced it to stop and return to the corporation yard.
Although there was a meeting between a corporation official, residents of Moneymore and members of the DRAGCAPG yesterday, the local authority is now considering legal action.