COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

QUESTION NO. 12

QUESTION: Councillor C. Keane

"To ask the Manager for a report on the bonfire clean-up for the Rathfarnham Area and the cost of same relating to this area?"

REPLY:

In the run up to the 2009 Halloween period a concerted effort was made by a number of Council Departments urging local communities, community and youth groups, schools and the general public to attend the official bonfires in the Tallaght and Clondalkin areas rather than construct their own.  This request, in the main, was ignored in many areas and c. 16,000 square metres of open space was damaged as a result of the fires that took place. In addition to the above, Council crews removed considerable volumes of bonfire material in the weeks leading up to Halloween in an effort to reduce the amount of  material available to burn and limit the damage to the public spaces. 

In the aftermath of Halloween 2009, each unofficial bonfire was logged, photographed and an estimate of the debris remaining calculated to facilitate a programmed removal of the material.  A total of 412 bonfire sites have been recorded across the County.  The clean-up programme to remove the offending debris was commenced in early December.  Progress with the clean-up operation was however severly hampered by the very poor ground conditions arising from the exceptional volume of rainfall during November and December and it was necessary to delay clean-ups in many areas to avoid causing significant further damage to the public open spaces.  In addition, Parks Department staff were redeployed during early January to assist with the gritting and clean-up operations arising from the lengthy period of ice and snow.  As a result, it was not possible to complete bonfire clean-ups in many locations until relatively recently.  Consequently the information relating to the overall cost of the clean-up operation for 2009 is still being compiled.  Final figures for the cost of the cleanup for Halloween 2009 in the Rathfarnham area, and for South Dublin county as a whole, will be presented to the March meeting of the Rathfarnham Area Committee..