The courts are not in a position to call alleged murderers to account, but the High Court this morning could send six innocent residents from south Dublin to jail for three weeks and fine them very heavily. Their crime was to participate in a two hour, entirely peaceful protest against the decision of South Dublin County Council to leave uncollected the refuse bins of thousands of householders who are boycotting the bin tax. The Taoiseach might as well have worn the grey wig and banged the door of Mountjoy behind those decent taxpayers because he is responsible for those jailings.

A few months ago the Government brought in this draconian change in legislation allowing county mangers to set out on a scandalous cam paign of blackmailing compliant taxpayers and entire communities by withdrawing a crucial service for which they have paid over a century through central and indirect taxation. The Taoiseach's gutless backbenchers did not utter a peep when this legislation was going through the House. They do not even bother to come into the Dáil any more, but it is the Taoiseach who is responsible for the system that has honest taxpayers banged up in jail within days of a peaceful protest, while years after being found out, corrupt councillors from his party, Ansbacher thieves, strut around with absolute impunity.

If the Taoiseach wants to retrieve even a shred of credibility for the flawed and ailing political system over which he presides, it is in his hands to take action to defuse the current situation. Will he call off the attack on the communities of working people by instructing the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to suspend the bin non-collection order and allow the debate on the bin tax and his local taxation policies to proceed at pace but without thousands of decent men and women being forced to use their peaceful people power in opposition to his draconian policies?

I dealt with this issue previously. Nobody is in jail today for peaceful protesting. They are in breach of a court order. They defied the court.

They are in jail for peaceful protest but not for murder.

That is the reason they are in jail. On the wider issue, I have said previously that direct user charges for household waste collection are widely applied throughout Europe. The polluter pays principle is a requirement of the Waste Management Act. The vast bulk of householders pay the charge for waste collection and disposal. It is the law of the land. It has been passed through the democratic process and it should be respected by all citizens equally. I have no comment to make on the courts but if people do not comply with the order of the courts, the law is handed out to everybody equally.

As usual the Taoiseach completely ignored the stark double standards over which his Government presides. Is it not incredible that gardaí say they cannot muster sufficient resources and personnel to prevent the abandonment of a murder trial through naked and brutal intimidation? Working class communities wait hours, if not days, before gardaí respond to their calls but the county and city managers in Dublin can at any time muster endless numbers of gardaí to push and pull at peaceful protesters against the policy of bin non-collection. The gardaí can be freely used to brow-beat and frighten communities into giving up their opposition. Within the suburbs, incredibly, Garda stations are closing down to deal with entirely peaceful protests.

The Taoiseach's Government has turned the standards of a civilised society on its head. The innocent and compliant taxpayers, the lifelong taxpayers who are now contributory pensioners, are being hounded, harassed and jailed because the Taoiseach wants to use the courts and the paraphernalia of the State to force new taxation policies upon them, but millionaire bankers who have organised massive fraud and knife-wielding gangsters are out of reach. The Taoiseach can open the gates of Mountjoy Prison tonight for these decent residents and ensure that nobody else goes in by simply saying to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to instruct the county managers to suspend the non-collection of refuse and to allow the debate to continue. Will he do that in the interests of at least cutting across some of the double standards over which he presides?

The Deputy knows the answer so there is no point giving him a long answer because he will accuse me of giving facts he does not want to hear. I cannot open the gates of Mountjoy Prison or anywhere else tonight for people who are in contempt of court.

The Taoiseach can.

There is the double standard.

The Taoiseach can end the stand-off.

Allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

Deputy Joe Higgins could call off the protesters who are mainly from his party.

That is absolute nonsense.

Let ordinary people have their refuse collected.

The Taoiseach knows that tens of thousands of householders and hundreds of thousands of taxpayers are—

Deputy Higgins, allow the Taoiseach to speak.

Then the debate could continue – I agree with the Deputy on this – on how we try to deal with refuse which has increased enormously in the last number of years. We have a major problem with which to deal. I am sure Deputy Joe Higgins wants to deal with it as well and does not want to see landfill sites and the other difficulties.

What has that got to do with my question?

If the Deputy could help us to find a solution, then perhaps we could move on and try to deal with the problem.