An application by a Green Party councillor for an order compelling Wicklow County Council to resume its collection of household waste, rather than allot the task to private operators, was rejected by the High Court yesterday. Ms Deirdre de Burca had sought the interlocutory order while her judicial review proceedings - challenging the council's waste plan, is determined.
The council stopped collecting waste on January 28th and invited householders to make use of refuse disposal companies.
Ms de Burca of Novara Avenue, Bray, is seeking a declaration that the council is required by the European Communities (Waste) Regulations and the Waste Management Act to prepare a waste collection plan and an order quashing the decision to end its household collection. Mr Justice O Caoimh refused to grant an interlocutory injunction but said he thought Ms de Burca had raised a fair question to be tried in the action.
Ms de Burca has said she fears illegal dumping and burning of waste by householders in the Co Wicklow area would increase if private collectors attempted to maximise their profits by increasing charges for their services.
She said the council had sent a circular to 20,000 householders inviting them to make their own arrangements for waste disposal with private operators. By abdicating its responsibilities under the Waste Management Act and by abandoning the service, the council was obliging every householder in Wicklow to commit a criminal offence, she argued.
Mr Michael O'Leary, a senior executive engineer with the council, said about half of the householders in the council area were provided with a waste collection service by private commercial operators last year.
The council did not accept it had abdicated its responsibilities under the Act or that it was obliging householders to commit a criminal offence, he said.
Private waste operators had been able and willing to provide a waste collection service in the area for years, he said. Last year there were about 20,000 households in its area - 9,745 of them had waste collected by the council and about 9,000 by private operators.