ECHO OPINION: Waste freeze at Ballymount

By Echo Reporter

THE many years of austerity that the public has had endured has taught us the dubious joys of tightening our belts, cutting corners and generally putting up with the constant barrage of verbosity from ‘those in charge’ about having no choice.

We have been dictated to and lectured by politicians and Ministers of the home-grown variety and the EU sort.

 

The Central Bank has weighed in, as well as the Troika, the IMF and those dedicated big business people who never fail to remind the working class that they must not be too upset and the rewards will come to them eventually.

The people of Ireland have been patient, they have suffered the paucity of information and pay increases with little complaining.

They have listened over and over again that the crisis is not over, that they will have to endure more hardship before the ship of commerce is again sailing into calmer financial seas. But yet that same ship of commerce is unfurling its sails and demanding increases here, there and everywhere.

Being innured to stealth taxes by successive governments, it seems the services and businesses are trying the same thing on the public – putting goods up by a cent or two, reducing the size of the item that’s sold, cutting down on the quantities while holding the original price.

Emboldened by the non-response of the public who are now numb to hardship, it is interesting to see that many businesses are returning to Celtic Tiger mode and pushing for increases in prices and profits with no regard for the public’s plight.

Ballymount Civic Amenity was granted a 20 per cent increase in its fees by the council’s Chief Executive. While this does not apply to domestic cars, it does apply to small and large commercial vehicles like vans and Hiaces.

These increases will inevitably filter down into prices and the ordinary man in the street will pay eventually.

When will national and European politicians man up and do something for the people who elected them?