Wexford SF oppose privatisation of waste collection

Sinn Fein Cllr Anthony Kelly and Cllr Johnny Mythen reiterated their party opposition to any plans by Wexford County Council to privatise the refuse collection service, and instead called on the government to honour their pre-election promises to reform the taxation system, allowing new wealth collected to fund vital public services.

Following the privatisation of waste collection services in South Dublin and Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown, it now seems that it’s only a matter of time before efforts are made to change things in County Wexford,” Cllr Kelly said.  “Wexford Sinn Féin fully supports the Council refuse workers and urges that these employees be redeployed to other jobs within the Council.  I’m very concerned that these workers will be made redundant and sent to join the other twenty thousand unemployed people in this county on the Dole Queue. 

Cllr Johnny Mythen added;

“We hear a lot of talk that privatisation leads to price cuts and that the takeover of this public service by private companies will ultimately benefit ordinary people.  The truth is, that in the past we have witnessed such “price cuts” quickly be forgotten as private companies carved out monopolies for themselves, allowing rapid price escalations.  Historically, privatisation has been shown to hurt the poor and less well off the worst.  Vital services should be available to all and paid for with a fair and progressive tax system based on ability to pay.”

Abolish unfair tax on working poor

Cllr Anthony Kelly has called for the urgent abolishment of the grossly unjust Universal Social Charge, and has demanded that County Wexfords five Oireachtas members honour their election promises to stand up for the ordinary people of this county by working in the Dail to bring an immediate end to this unfair tax on the working poor.  Speaking following a Sinn Féin demonstration against the USC in the Bull Ring last Saturday, Cllr Kelly said that his party would continue to push Fine Gael and Labour to drop this tax that greatly benefits high earners who can take advantage of tax exemptions.

“County Wexford’s five TDs each made promises to protect the interests of the under siege citizens of this County during the recent election campaign,” Cllr Kelly said, “Now they must honour their commitments to the electorate.  Supporting an unfair tax that takes the same percentage from people earning €16,016 per annum as it does from someone earning €100,000 per year is not protecting the interests of the people of this county.   This tax needs to be abolished and instead the Government should work on building a fairer tax system by creating a progressive tax base that taxes fairly and equalises wealth.  Fine Gael and Labour have said that they will ‘review’ the USC.  This gives little comfort to the working poor of this County who are up against the wall.  It’s not good enough and we demand action now.”

 “Not only is this tax causing untold misery for ordinary people, it is also completely unfair.  We have discovered an anomaly in the USC that allows people on much higher wages to pay less.  The anomaly means that somebody on €30,000 euro is better off under the Universal Social Charge system when compared to what they were paying under the health and income levy system.  This is insanity and shows that Fine Gael and Labour are now operating on the same economic policy as Fianna Fail before them – protect the elite and over tax the working poor.  Fine Gael and Labour should honour their election promises to reform our corrupt tax system instead of implementing failed Fianna Fail economic policies.”