Skip hire will rise by at least €60 with new Council charge

Date Published: 22-Nov-2010

By Dara Bradley

The cost of using a skip in the city will increase by at least €60 if new bye-laws are adopted by Galway City Council.

The local authority is proposing a new skip licensing system whereby all skips left out on public streets and footpaths will incur a €50 charge plus €10 per day per five metres of road/footpath space.The charge for the licence is ‘non-refundable’.

If the skip is being placed in City Council owned Pay and Display areas, then the fee is €50 plus €26 per day per parking space – this is to recoup the parking revenue lost to the Council as a result of the skip taking up the parking space.

A spokesperson for the Council stressed that the new licence and new charge is not a money-making exercise – he estimated based on the number of skips used on public roads last year (30) that just around €2,000 would be generated.

“That would just about cover the administration cost of implementing the licence. This isn’t about revenue-raising; this new bye-law is about ensuring people who use skips on public roadways and footpaths do so in a way that is not a hazard to other road users and that is not blocking footpaths,” said the spokesperson.

The charge does not apply to people using skips in private property such as driveways.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel