Hundreds attend anti-bin tax rally at Mountjoy

Up to 300 anti-bin charges campaigners are holding a protest outside Mountjoy Prison in Dublin tonight. They are calling for wider union support for the campaign after the jailing of 10 protesters in the High Court today.

Campaigners vowed to step up their campaign today despite the jailings. Cllr Ruth Coppinger of the Fingal Anti-Bin Tax Campaign told

ireland.com

she reacted with "absolute horror" to the news.

"I am shocked at the judiciary so blatantly showing such double standards to jail ordinary people while millionaires and corrupt TDs go free," she said.

Asked what affect today's ruling would have on the campaign, Ms Coppinger said it would "further aggravate people" and strengthen the resolve to oppose the charges.

She called for support for a march this Saturday in Dublin city centre, organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions.

However, Fingal County Council said today 90 per cent of households in its area have now paid their bin charges, netting the council over €500,000 in the past month.

"This is more than double the amount received by Fingal in August, prior to our policy of non-collection," said county manager, Mr Willie Soffe, .

The High Court decision was also condemned by the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU). The union's Acting General Secretary, Mr Eamon Devoy, said: "There must be something very wrong with the law in this country when so many corrupt politicians can walk around freely, as well as almost 300 Ansbacher account holders, while poor people are locked up because they object to paying €5 a week in service charges.

"There is one law for the working class and another for the wealthy backers of Fianna Fáil and the PDs," he added.

The Amalgamated Transport & General Workers Union (ATGWU), said bin charges are rising steadily throughout Ireland as more councils opt to hand over waste collection to private companies. The union said it would continue to oppose the bin taxes, despite the jail sentences.

Mr John Bolger, the ATGWU's Dublin district secretary, said the union's policy "has always been, and will remain, against privatisation of state services as it invariably results in a poorer, or more expensive, service to the public".

Sinn Féin Cllr Dessie Ellis said the protesters were jailed for "peaceful political protest against an unjust form of double taxation".

He said the protests would continue, accusing the Government of "woefully underestimating the strength of feeling" on the issue".

The Workers' Party condemned the jailing as "the action of an out-of-touch judiciary propping up a corrupt government".