The Anti-Bin Tax Campaign opposed the introduction of bin charges (garbage-collection fees) by local authorities in Ireland. The campaign centred largely in city areas, in particular Dublin. It was locally based with some co-ordination in the Dublin area. Non-payment was the tactic used against the charge. [1]
The campaign was supported by a variety of people from community and minor political groupings, such as Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Irish Socialist Network, Workers Solidarity Movement and Working Class Action.
In Autumn 2003, after years of mass non-payment the Dublin local authorities began non-collection; leading to protests and blockades of bin trucks. In the High Court Fingal County Council sought an injunction and the imprisonment of Joe Higgins and Clare Daly of the Socialist Party, and Irish Socialist Network members John O'Neill and Colm Breathnach. These imprisonments escalated the campaign and for a number of weeks refuse collection in the Dublin area was severely disrupted due to protests. In total 22 people were imprisoned. [2] [3]
The campaign failed in its objective to reverse the introduction of bin charges. In the years to follow, many councils privatised refuse collection services. [4]
The campaign was described by The Phoenix Magazine as "an abject failure" which "left many thousands of families across Dublin in financial and legal difficulty, it proved a useful campaign and publicity tool for SP candidates in a number of constituencies" [5]
At the 2004 local elections following the non-collection phase of the campaign Anti-Bin Tax a number of candidates were elected. The Socialist Party gained two seats, one on Cork City Council and one on South Dublin County Council, bringing its total up to four. Joan Collins, running as an Independent, won a seat in the Crumlin-Kimmage local electoral area on Dublin City Council.
Cieran Perry of Working Class Action running as an independent [6] narrowly missed election by 93 votes in Cabra, polling 1,753 votes. Dublin city chair of 'Stop the Bin Tax campaign' Joe Mooney ran in the Dublin North Inner City electoral ward unsuccessfully. [7]
Joe Mooney was involved in one of the most prominent incidents of the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign when he was hit by a Dublin City Council truck while the campaign tried to blockade a bin truck depot, he was carried down a road by a bin truck, before falling off. He was slightly injured. [8] [9]
The Socialist Party is a political party in Ireland, active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Internationally, it is affiliated to the Trotskyist International Socialist Alternative. The party has been involved in various populist campaigns including the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign and the Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes. Members of the party were jailed for their part in the former, while members have been arrested for their role in the latter. It had a seat in the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014. In 2015, the party received state funding of €132,000.
Joe Higgins is an Irish former Socialist Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency from 1997 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2016. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency from 2009 to 2011.
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The Christian Solidarity Party was a minor political party in the Republic of Ireland. It had no representation at local or national level. Founded in 1991 as the Christian Principles Party, it stood candidates in the 1991 local elections, it was reformed as the Christian Centrist Party and ran candidates in the 1992 general election receiving 0.2% of first preference votes. It was renamed in 1994 to incorporate the word "Solidarity" following a mutual pledge of support between the party and the conservative advocacy group, Family Solidarity. Its first candidate was Catherine Kelly, contesting the 1994 Cork South-Central by-election, who received 1,704 (4.0%) first preference votes. The CSP took part in the 1997 general election and contested each general election, and a number of other by-elections until 2011. It also fielded candidates in Local and European Parliament elections.
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Seán Ó Cionnaith was an Irish socialist republican politician, and a prominent member of the Workers' Party.
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Working Class Action (WCA) was a left-wing campaign group based in Dublin, largely in the North Inner City and Cabra. The group campaigned on a number of issues such as against service charges (Anti-Bin Tax Campaign), against the Nice Treaty, against drugs and crime in inner city areas of Dublin and in industrial disputes such as on the closure of the Irish Glass bottle company.
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Solidarity, formerly known as the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA), is a socialist political party in Ireland, launched in 2014. It had been registered as a political party to contest local elections, and ran at least forty candidates in the 2014 Irish local elections. All Solidarity's elected representatives are members of the Socialist Party.
Ruth Coppinger is an Irish politician and member of the Socialist Party. She was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency in 2014. At the 2016 general election, she ran as a candidate for Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit and retained her seat in Dáil Éireann until 2020. She lost her seat at the general election in February 2020.
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