A LIMERICK woman on invalidity pension has had her bin waiver taken away by Limerick City and County Council even though they will still pay the waiver for people on disability pensions.
Catherine Keane (57) from Raheen had to leave her job in hotel management three years ago when she suffered a severe stroke and doctors diagnosed that she would never be fit for work again.
Her condition means she has to dispose of a large quantity of non-toxic medical aids every month and she was already topping up the €150 the council pays to the bin collection company to cover the full cost of her waste disposal.
Despite being in receipt of little more than €200 a month, with no prospect of being able to earn any more, she now has to pay up to €300 a year on top of a mortgage and all her other bills.
This is after she was notified that only people aged 66 or more on a state pension, people whose partners are in those circumstances or people in receipt of disability payments are entitled to the waiver.
The Limerick Post has also learned that people on a blind pension have had their bin waivers removed.
Stating that she has been told that she can never work again, Catherine believes that the local authority is discriminating against her and others on invalidity pensions.
“People on disability can work twenty hours a week if they are up to it and still keep all their entitlements. I just can’t understand how they would cut us off and yet keep the allowance for people on disability. How did anyone come to that conclusion?”
“I am very angry that having worked since I was fifteen years old and paid my taxes all along, I’m now treated like this”.
Catherine can no longer drive so she can’t even save money by bringing recyclables to the bring bank.
“It’s not my fault I got sick and it’s not my fault that as a result I have all of this waste to dispose of. I feel that I and other people on invalidity pensions have been treated very badly. Discriminating between disability and invalidity makes no sense at all”.
Anti Austerity Alliance councillor Cian Prendeville told the Limerick Post that he plans to bring a motion before Limerick City and County Council to reverse the cuts to bin waivers.
“This was proposed as part of the council’s annual budget and it really didn’t get any discussion among the councillors. We spoke against cutting the waivers but we only had three minutes and the budget was voted through.
“The council members can reverse these cuts and that is what we’ll be asking them to do. This instance and the denial of a waiver to blind people makes no sense whatsoever. Are blind people not disabled?” he asked.
There was no comment from Limerick City and County Council at the time of going to press.
