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Residents of Stoneybatter, Phibsborough, Smithfield and Broadstone face fines if they resist wheelie bins
Senior officials in Dublin City Council’s waste division want to press ahead with a ban on the use of bin bags across Dublin 7 from next February.
It emerged on Wednesday that plans to ban the use of plastic refuse sacks by thousands of north Dublin households from this month had been abandoned following protests against the move. Residents of streets in Stoneybatter , Phibsborough , Smithfield and Broadstone had been told they would not be able to leave plastic sacks instead of bins on the street for collection from October 17th.
Households that defied the ban were facing fines of €250 if they continued to leave bags for collection. The council had planned to make streets in the area “bag free” from July but, following backlash from residents whose homes could not easily accommodate wheelie bins, it agreed to postpone until October and initiate a public consultation on the plans. It is understood that more than three-quarters of residents who responded to the consultation opposed the move.
Residents in the Dublin 7 area also held a series of protests in recent months objecting to the ban on the use of bags. In a note to councillors on Thursday, Derek Kelly, executive manager in charge of climate and urban resilience, said the “executive remains committed to ending the on-street presentation of waste in plastic bags and to delivering a cleaner, safer and more attractive public realm”.
However, he said, “it considers it appropriate to allow a further period to explore alternatives before implementation proceeds”. During what he referred to as a “deferral period”, the waste management division would work with councillors and the waste collection industry to “identify and assess additional presentation and disposal solutions for the affected areas”.
Options will be assessed against whether they are practical for residents, consistent with the council’s environmental objectives, commercially viable for the waste industry, and “capable of being implemented within the existing regulatory and legislative framework for household waste collection in the city”, Kelly said. A report would be issued to councillors in November, he said, but “unless the council decides otherwise” the bag ban “will proceed on 01 February 2027”.
Legislation requiring the use of bins instead of refuse sacks came into force in 2016, but thousands of Dublin residents and businesses were given a temporary derogation from the rule because their properties were unsuitable for wheelie bins. The derogation has to be removed to comply with national and European waste management requirements and “improve street cleanliness, reduce litter and vermin, and support better recycling and waste segregation across the city”, the council said.
The bag ban has already been implemented in two areas of the city centre. In December 2025 it was introduced in the areas around Temple Bar and Grafton Street and the streets to its east and west. Last May, the ban came into force in the north inner city from Amiens Street to Church Street and the Liffey quays to Dorset Street.
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