Sinn Féin Cllr Daithí Doolan has said that waste collection bills are a rip-off and the service should be brought back into public ownership.

Speaking at the launch of his party’s “Take Back the Bins” campaign in Dublin this afternoon, Cllr Doolan said:

“Bin collection was once a core service provided by local councils, but now it has been moulded into a lucrative industry run by private profiteers, with customers paying through the nose for it.

“Today we are launching our ‘Take Back the Bins’ campaign in which we propose to put waste collection back under the control of local authorities.

“We also want to end the side by side waste collection system which is clogging up our neighbourhoods, alongside increasing the number of recycling centres and the range of items accepted.

“We are the only state in Europe with a completely privatised waste collection service, and this has led to massive illegal dumping.

“The current service is expensive, bad for the environment and lacking in regulation – it is time to take bin services back into public ownership.”