Cork City Council have avoided a potential refund bill of over €2 million arising from bin charges after the High Court ruled in their favour this week.

The ruling followed on from a number of cases made in the small claims court in 2007 after more then 15,000 people availed of a 10% discount for early payments in 2006.

The terms under the discount stated that refuse collections would take place once a week, but this was later changed to collections being made every two weeks.

This subsequently led to a number of individuals making claims for refunds totalling 50% under Section 40 of the Sales of Goods Act 1980, which states that, having entered into a contract, Cork City Council were obliged to inform those who availed of the early payment discount of the change in collections from weekly to fortnightly.

The first of these claimants, John McCarthy was successful when he was awarded the sum of €130, but later plaintiffs were denied a rebate, after the legal representative for Cork City Council argued that claims made in 2007 for payments made in 2006 were not valid.

While the High Court upheld the Small Claims Court ruling this week, there remains a possibility of more claims providing those who availed of the early payment discount officially lodged their application in 2006.

Mick Murphy, one of the claimants, says, "I entered into a contract with Cork City Council to collect my refuse bin for the sum of €261. This was for the collection of my refuse on a weekly basis. After entering into this contract Cork City Council changed the collection from weekly to every second week, without informing me. Under the initial terms I am only receiving have the service paid for. It's a matter of principle more then anything and I will be pursuing this again in the Small Claims Court".

John Jones of Cork City Council welcomed the decision by the High Court, saying, "They have ruled in our favour, which we feel is the right decision. We felt that the City Council should not have to pay out refunds as we provided a refuse collection in 2006 during which everyone had their refuse collected".

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