Dublin City Council aims to take control of bin service in bid to tackle illegal dumping

"The Group are to meet in September and prepare a report for consideration by the Elected Members of the City Council."

Update 2pm: Dublin City Council is aiming to take back control of the household waste collection services across the capital.

Voting on the motion last night, councillors took the first step towards taking back control since the service was privatised in 2012.

Following the vote, a working group made up of councillors, management and unions involved has been established.

The group will meet in September and October to consider how the motion might be advanced and will report to the council in November with their recommendations.

Councillors agreed last night that there is a responsibility to the people who live and work in the the city, as well as a responsibility to the environment, to address the issue.

There has been an 11% jump in the price of collections since the service was privatised, while there has also been an increase in illegal dumping across Dublin.

People before profit Councillor Tina MacVeigh, who lobbied for the motion said the whole point of this is to provide city residents with a better waste collection service.

"We need to be thinking about how we produce waste and dealing with the production of waste at the source and having conversations about that and trying to minimise the amount of waste that we are producing as a society in the first place," said Cllr MacVeigh.

Estimates suggest the council would have to spend around €29m per year to take charge of the household waste collections in the city.

But Ms MacVeigh says the council are already spending a considerable amount on the collection of waste.

"In the first quarter of 2019 alone, the local authority spent just under €300,000 removing illegally dumped household waste.

"The truth of it is that we are actually collecting waste, it's just that we are collecting illegally dumped waste.

"We are also spending money on the installation of cameras."

Dublin City Council votes to take charge of bin service

Update 9.30am: Dublin City Council may eventually take back the city's bin service after councillors voted on the issue last night.

Since the service was privatised in 2012, there has been an 11% increase in the price of collections while there has been an increase in illegal dumping across the capital.

It is estimated that the council would have to spend around €29m per year to take charge of the household waste collections in the city.

But Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan says it is worth it because privatising the service was a disaster for Dublin.

Great victory. Council vote to take bin service back in to council ownership. Major step forward for Dublin householders @DublinSinnFein @DubCityCouncil pic.twitter.com/J9MkgZLs3x

— Cllr. Daithí Doolan (@DaithiDoolan) July 1, 2019

"This is the only city in Europe where we have competition of side-by-side collection services which I think is bad for the environment," said Cllr Doolan.

"It creates traffic congestion in residential areas where you have competing services' trucks coming up and down our residential roads.

"It doesn't actually lead to a cheaper bin charge, there has been an increase of 11% so it hasn't led to more value for money."