Green
bin problems
The
private company which currently holds the contract for the collection
of Dublin 15’s green bins – Oxigen – has been coming
in for a lot of flak lately both from the public and from local councillors.
The problem does not appear to be confined to Dublin 15 only and in
recent weeks councillors from all parts of Fingal have been raising
the complaints with council management. At a recent meeting of the county
council, Cllr. Eoghan O’Brien (FF) who represents the Malahide
area referred to “the recent deterioration of service quality
by Oxigen across Fingal which has resulted in instances of green bins
being collected up to a week late.”
The Labour Party’s Gerry McGuire representing the Swords area
also wanted to know if any sanctions were taken against Oxigen “for
failure to collect green bins on the scheduled date or certainly within
a day of due collection date.”
According to Council officials there has been an increased number of
complaints in the last few months about this service and “the
Council has been in regular contact at the highest level with the service
provider [Oxigen] to impress upon them that the service must return
to its previous level.”
Council officials are also perturbed by the timing of this drop in the
standard of the service. According to a reply given to councillors on
the issue “it has been emphasised that particularly at a time
when the private sector is attempting to enter the household market
that service must be of the highest standard.”
Mulhuddart councillor Paul Donnelly (SF) who had previously complained
about the shortcomings in the service including the fact that residents
in Whitestown and Corduff had been awakened some weeks ago by the collection
of bins after midnight, queried when the contract with Oxigen would
be up for renewal again.
A council spokesperson stated that “the current contract concludes
towards the middle of this year. A public tendering process is nearing
completion and tenders are at present being evaluated prior to the awarding
of a new contract.”
It is understood that the current contract with Oxigen costs the council
somewhere between €5m and
€6m per year. With the expansion of the service to a fortnightly
one, this figure is expected to
increase significantly.
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