Socialists opposed to bin charge face €20,600 legal bill

Socialists and anti-bin tax campaigners Joe Higgins and Clare Daly face a legal bill of €20,600 arising from their jailing two years ago in relation to disrupting refuse collections.

Costs were awarded to Fingal County Council against the Socialist Party TD Mr Higgins and councillor colleague Ms Daly after they defied a High Court injunction prohibiting them from obstructing the council's collections in Dublin. The pair received jail sentences of one month in September 2003.

The council had applied for costs of €30,000 following its court victory. However, these were disputed at the time by Mr Higgins and Ms Daly, and the matter was referred to the taxing master of the High Court.

Fingal County Council received a certificate from the taxing master on Wednesday awarding it costs of €20,600.

The council must now write to Mr Higgins and Ms Daly seeking payment. If Ms Daly fails to pay costs she will be prohibited from standing as a candidate in future local elections in the county. The same ban would not apply to Mr Higgins in relation to the Oireachtas.

A senior source in the council said it could in theory withhold Ms Daly's expenses if she refused to pay. "We hope it won't come to that; we hope they'll both pay up and this will be an end to the matter."

Speaking to The Irish Times last night, Mr Higgins said he and Ms Daly did intend to pay the cost as they could not afford to appeal the taxing master's decisions to the High Court.

He said some of the money had been raised through the Fingal Anti-Bin Tax Campaign, but the majority had yet to be raised.

The politicians' imprisonment marked the climax of the bin charge protests in 2003.