Sinn Féin has accused the Government of allowing a 'free for all' for waste collection companies.
The party is holding a public meeting at Wynn's Hotel in Dublin this evening to campaign over what they believe is a move towards bin-charge hikes across the country.
Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald says it is the first in a series of public meetings aimed at rallying the public and sending a message to the Government that “enough is enough”.
“Nobody is convinced by these so-called reassurances from Government,” she said.
“The Government was issuing these reassurances, people in the neighbourhood in which I live were receiving these reassurances from waste collection companies, telling them they had changed the terms and conditions of their contract, telling them they were hiking up their charges, and what’s worse [is that] you’ve very little recourse back to any of these operators – their arrogance is astonishing.”
Sinn Féin claims people with medical conditions and disabilities, large families, and low-income households, will all bear the brunt of the Government's policy with regards to private waste operators.
“The fear is that now that the Government has conceded the market, has conceded an open field to leave operators, that actually people will be left at the mercy of these bin collection companies ,” added Deputy McDonald.
“People are fearful that costs will spiral, that service will be poor – people are very anxious because obviously they are struggling with household bills as it is.”