Galway City councillors lose battle of the bins

 Galway City Councillors last night gave up their bid to stop the Council from privatising its domestic waste collection service, after they accepted a second legal opinion – leaving the Council to continue its tendering process unobstructed.

 That legal opinion outlined that the City Manager was operating within his executive powers to end the council’s own refuse service and replace it with a private service.

Councillors had sought a second opinion and last night Councillor Collette Connolly withdrew a Section 140 motion (a method for elected members to challenge a decision by the executive) that asked the City Manager to reconsider his decision.

Cllr Ollie Crowe said it was “a dark day” for the Council to privatise a service that he believed was a crucial one for a Local Authority.

There were many questions put to the City Manager, Brendan MacGrath, and the Directors of Services, Joe O’Neill and Kevin Swift, on details such as how would existing customers be guaranteed they would only pay €229 for the year; how could customers ensure their data was not shared with a new operator without their consent and would the transition period still cost the Council?

They were assured that customers would be written to and that there was no obligation on anyone to go with the new operator. The cost of the waiver scheme for the next two years would be incorporated by the successful bidder (which will be decided by Friday) and any related costs to the council would be a one-off.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel