COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 12, 2012

MOTION NO. 3

MOTION: Councillor M. Devine

That this Council condemn Greyhound Waste Services for the disregard and disrespect shown to Elected Reps and the Public by their non-attendance at the scheduled meeeting of 26th Jan last. That they are again requested to attend this Chamber to respond to members serious concerns re the provision of a competent Waste Service in this County

REPORT:

Following resolution of the Council in November 2011 it was agreed that all private waste operators operating in the County be invited to attend the Council's Organisation Procedure & Finance Committee meeting scheduled for Thursday 26th January 2012.   The purpose of the meeting was, amongst other things, to discuss pricing structures.

Members were updated with details of the proposed attendees and were made aware that a number of operators accepted the invitation.  Due to the unavailability of some key operators the Members ' consensus was to postpone that meeting and the meeting was subsequestly postponed on Tuesday 24th January 2012.

In the meantime correspondence was received from The Competition Authority following media reports concerning the meeting organised by the Council and a letter from that authority expressed concern that South Dublin County Council might be facilitating (albeit inadvertantly) concerted action in relation to companies' pricing structures. The letter also highlighted that it is a criminal offence under Section 6 of the Companies Act 2002 for competing companies to directly or indirectly fix prices and any discussion about prices between competing companies can result in the indirect fixing of prices through concerted action. 

The Competition Authority advised that individual direct discussion between the Council and companies are unlikely to give rise to any competition law problem provided the Council ensures that commercially sensitive information relating to one company is not passed  to another.

Accordingly it is not intended to reschedule the meeting of all private operators and it is a matter for the Council to decide if it wishes to invite each / any operator to individual meeting(s).