North Inner City Ward - Dublin City Council
Some press coverage of previous campaigns I have been involved with in the North Inner City area.
Independent calls for CAB funds for communities
Press Release � 2nd June 2004
An Independent candidate running in the North Inner City has called for funds from the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) to be invested in community and youth projects in the areas most damaged by drug abuse.
Mr Joe Mooney, who is Chairman of the East Wall Residents� Association, was commenting on press reports which revealed that up to E12million worth of assets belonging to major drug gangsters will soon be passed by the courts into the general Exchequer fund.
Mr Mooney said "I have always supported the confiscation of the assets of drug dealers and stated that such monies should be transferred to community and youth projects in the areas most damaged by their murderous activities. E12million will be a mere drop in the ocean of general State funds, but if this sum was divided among worthy projects in the areas covered by the Drugs Task Forces it could have a very large impact in saving the next generation from lives of addiction and crime. It will certainly have a greater impact for good in our communities than if frittered away on vanity projects such as Spires for tourists and Punchestown Centres for the horsey elite."
[ENDS]
Gregory leads Independents' joint appeal for support
02 June 2004 - Irish Times
by Mark Hennessy
THE INDEPENDENTS: Voters should back independent candidates with long records of service in community organisations, Independent TDs said yesterday. Leading a joint appeal, Mr Tony Gregory complained that Independents now got 12 per cent of the vote in national elections, but were largely ignored by the press. "Independents can't even describe themselves as such on the ballot. They have a choice between being called Non-Party, or a blank space after their names," he said.
The Independents who gathered in Buswell's Hotel yesterday do not have a common manifesto, though all would oppose bin and water charges, incineration and many planning developments.
Dublin north inner-city candidate, Mr Joe Mooney, said Independent candidates could be loyal to their electorate, rather than to party machines. The proposed Spencer Dock development on Dublin's northside quays by Treasury Holdings was supported by the major parties, until they finally realised most local people opposed it, he said. People opposed to bin charges should come out and vote for independents in June because the local authorities had "just put the issue aside until the election is out of the way", Mr Mooney claimed.
Cllr Fintan Cassidy, who took over the local authority seat of Dublin North Central Independent TD, Mr Finian McGrath, said the ending of the dual mandate had actually helped Independents. "We have worked very well as a team. I can pass problems up the line to Finian, and I can deal with local matters," he said. Mr McGrath said Independent TDs had co-operated well together in the D�il "even if we don't agree on everything".
Ms Teresa McHugh, who is married to Independent TD Mr Paddy McHugh and is seeking a Tuam Town Council seat, said there was no place for party politics on local authority bodies. "I will be in a position to articulate the views of the townspeople in an unfettered manner and without being a slave to any political party," she said.
The abolition of the dual mandate, Mr McHugh said, had been designed to hurt Independent TDs "but it won't make a bit of difference" to the numbers elected. Mr Se�n Canney, who is seeking a Galway County Council seat, said councillors "should be working for the people and not be shackled by party constraints". Cavan-Monaghan TD Mr Paudge Connolly said party councillors opposed health cuts locally, but voted for them at health board meetings.
Courts causing a stink
02 Mar 2004 - Northside People
A HEALTH hazard is developing in the Smithfield area owing to the Courts Service�s failure to pay its bin charges. Last week, a line of stinking, unemptied waste container bins with waste discarded from the Courts Service Building at Phoenix House, Dublin 7 stood outside the building and resulted in Dublin City Council dispatching a litter warden to the area.
A council press officer confirmed that the reason the bins had not been collected was there was no current bin tags displayed on them. When asked if this in effect meant the Courts Service had not paid for their bin tags, she replied: �Yes, we collected the bins for some weeks as a courtesy and to keep the general area clean, but we won�t be collecting them again until bin tags are displayed.� The spokesperson added that a litter warden had been liaising with the Courts Service over two days in an effort to sort out the matter.
However, Joe Mooney, secretary of the Dublin Campaign Against the Bin Tax, described the situation as one of �unbelievable hypocrisy� and pointed out that 26 people were jailed last year for opposing the bin charges. �This is a clear case of double standards,� said Mr Mooney. �I am calling on Dublin City Council to investigate and bring the appropriate charges against the courts for breach of the litter laws. Failure to do so would be nothing short of hypocrisy.�
Mr Mooney, who is an Independent Community Candidate in the forthcoming elections, added that a similar problem seemed to exist in the Children�s Court, where rubbish was building up within an inner yard and the situation could be occurring elsewhere. Referring to the unemptied waste containers outside Phoenix House, Mr Mooney said the container bins were overflowing and stinking. �At least one bin is labelled �strictly restaurant only� which would indicate it contains food debris,� he said. �In addition, rather than addressing the public health concerns, extra rubbish bags have been placed on top. Only labels dating from 2002/2003 appear on the bins.�
However, Courts Service spokesperson Gerry Curran said it received its bin charges bill from Dublin City Council at the end of January and a cheque was issued by February 17. 'There was a problem that our bins were not collected for a period and we made several phone calls to the council to query why our bins were not collected,� he said. �The council say they are now looking for the cheque within their system and have agreed to collect our bins as per normal. It is not true to say the Courts Service have not paid their bin charges.�
Bertie Heckled in Bin Tax Protest
Press Release - 8th December 2003
The Dublin Campaign Against the Bin Tax today held a protest at Binns Bridge in Drumcondra to highlight the ongoing opposition to the Bin Tax and double taxation.
A press photo shoot staged to raise the profiles of Bertie Ahern and Lord Mayor Royston Brady was heckled by a token protest by members of the local Ballybough-Clonliffe Campaign against the Bin Tax
Joe Mooney, Secretary of the Dublin Campaign, said:
"It is quite ironic to see Bertie Ahern attempting to co-opt such as anti-establishment figure as Brendan Behan to boost their �Golden Circle� government. It is highly likely that if Brendan Behan was around today he would oppose the Bin Tax and Mr Ahern�s cronies would have no problem locking him up across the canal.
Mr Mooney continued:
"Today the press has revealed that Environment Minister Martin Cullen will allocate e700 million to the Local Government Fund for 2004. It is positive that there has been a recognition of the need for adequate funding for local services and that this should come from central government, paid for from our taxes. However this is just a once off payment for 2004 and will mainly be directed at fulfilling benchmarking commitments. The suspicion arises that the aim of the subsidy is to remove the need for huge stealth tax rises for local services in 2004, which just happens to be a Local Election year."
Alec Robertson, secretary of the Ballybough-Clonliffe Campaign said:
"Mr Ahern will face many more such protests until the Government orders local authorities to collect all bins and scraps this unjust and unfair tax. Support for the campaign remains strong and non-payment figures for Dublin City Council areas vindicate our claim that compliance with the Bin Tax amounts to just under 30%, with over 45% having paid nothing or just a portion of the double tax. Our message remains the same � "Don�t Panic, Don�t Pay.""
Letters - Bin tax: what our campaign is really all about
06 Dec 2003 - Irish Examiner
Dear Sir,
DAN BUCKLEY�S article entitled �Stop burying waste or waste will bury us� (Irish Examiner, Dec 1) correctly acknowledges the scale of the protests against the bin tax.
Contrary to the statements of ministers that a mere 100 or so protesters are involved, recent figures from Dublin city council reveal that out of 164,136 households, 70,000 have not paid any bin tax in 2003.
However, Dan Buckley finds it perplexing that the protesters adopt an 'ultra-rightist' position by refusing to pay the tax.
This is not the argument. The point made by the campaigners is that this is a double tax because we have already paid for waste collection services through our PAYE tax. No one is objecting to paying for bin collection or public services, we just refuse to pay twice.
Dan Buckley also makes the common media error of claiming that the campaign is run by the Socialist Party and Sinn F�in. In fact, the vast majority of activists and campaigners throughout working class areas of Dublin are ordinary residents, and not members of any party.
Dan Buckley blames the waste crisis on "over-dependence on landfills, opposition to incineration and little interest in recycling". While he expands on the first two points he does not address recycling. The "little interest in recycling" is not a lack of concern by the general public; it is the result of decades of complete disinterest by government and local authorities. This is why many of us find it difficult to stomach the new-found environmental concern of parties such as Fianna F�il.
The Campaign Against the Bin Tax encourages recycling and reuse and urges the greater provision of local recycling facilities and bring centres.
The campaign has also pointed out the hypocrisy of politicians shouting about recycling while at the same time allowing the closure of the only glass recycling facility in the state.
It is not ironic that Dublin has a lower rate of bin tax than rural counties now relying on privatised services. Dublin city council raised the bin tax by 30% for 2003 and an even steeper rise is expected for 2004. The aim is to make the waste collection service profitable for private industry before it is sold off, with serious implications for the livelihoods of bin workers. Private services outside Dublin have led to higher charges, fewer jobs and greater pollution and illegal dumping.
The article quotes Minister Martin Cullen claiming that each person in Ireland produces 700kg of waste per year, but gives no source for this figure. In contrast, recent figures from the Government-funded Environment Protection Agency show that normal residential waste going to landfill amounts to just 15% of the annual total. Thus the ordinary householder is not to blame for the waste mountain, the rats, etc, in the recent Government TV advert.
The reality is that the individual consumer is not responsible for the production of waste. The food industry and retailers are to blame for the vast over-packaging of goods and the shopper has no control over this.
Joe Mooney,
Secretary,
Dublin Campaign Against the Bin Tax,
East Wall, Dublin 3.