Council to dump bin collection business

Galway’s new City Manager is bracing himself for his first major battle in the job when he announces his controversial decision on Monday to privatise the city’s household refuse collection service.

A number of councillors have already said they will oppose any move by Galway City Council to pull out of the waste disposal operation and put it out for tender to be privatised.

In only his second City Council meeting, City Manager, Brendan McGrath, will be met with strong opposition to his decision following a review of the waste disposal services.

Though that decision hadn’t been announced officially by yesterday evening, it is almost certain that it will mean the end of the Council-operated service.

It cost the Council €4.5 million to operate last year with an income of €2.8 million leaving them with a shortfall of €1.7 million, which includes €500,000 to cover the waiver scheme for 2,400 households.

Galway is the last urban council in the country to be operating a bin collection and the move to privatise was exclusively revealed in the Galway City Tribune three weeks ago – customers have fallen from 22,000 nine years ago to just under 11,000 last year, of which about 20% are non-paying waiver customers.

It’s within the City Manager’s executive remit to make a decision on it without any input from elected councillors and, though he hadn’t disclosed his decision by yesterday, some councillors have already thrown down the gauntlet and vowed to fight this all the way. It is believed the decision will be revealed to councillors at Monday’s meeting of Galway City Council.

 Councillor Catherine Connolly has asked councillors to stand together and ensure that the city’s ‘exemplary’ public refuse collection service was not undermined by management for short-term gain and said that any proposal by the City Manager to privatise the refuse service would be challenged.

The main objection to the privatisation of the service is the threat to the waiver scheme which provides either a free or reduced charge refuse collection to pensioners, the unemployed and people in receipt of social welfare.

 Mayor of Galway, Cllr Pádraig Conneely said that the customer loss was no longer making it viable for the Council to run the service, though he said he, too, was concerned about the waiver scheme.

 “Since new waste operators came into the city, prices have become very competitive and we have been losing customers at such a rate that the Council couldn’t compete.

Galway City Council declined to make a comment.

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For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.