End of bin waiver leaves pensioners with €170 bill

More than 2,000 people in Galway with limited means are facing a new bill, following the ending of a waiver on their refuse collection charges.

They will have to pay about €170 extra this year, according to Galway West Independent TD Noel Grealish. They are former users of Galway City Council’s domestic refuse collection service, which ended two years ago, when it was taken over by Barna Waste. Part of the agreement was that up to 2,400 people of limited means would continue to enjoy a waiver of charges for two years. That came to an end at the start of this year.

Deputy Grealish highlighted the extra charge as one of several — adding up to about €1,000 — that older people in Galway have had to endure over the past five years.

Speaking at an election hustings in the Westwood Hotel, organised by Age Action and Active Retirement Ireland, Deputy Grealish said that older people’s concerns tended to be ignored by government and should be addressed in the next programme for government.

“They must also be given a voice in the Cabinet,” he said. “To achieve this, I believe the role of the Minister for Children should be expanded, so that we have a Minister for Children and Older People.

“There is currently a Junior Minister, whose responsibilities include older people. But this way, the issues that most affect them will be heard at Cabinet level where the real decisions are made.”

Deputy Grealish said that rather than being nurtured and looked after in their autumn years, older people had been subjected to a whole series of cuts over the past five years.

“Many people mistakenly believe that older people have been kept safe from the austerity measures because the maximum state pension was not reduced.

“But we carried out an exercise in our office which shows that an average older couple in Galway have to pay out about €1,000 more today as a result of these cutbacks.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.