COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

HEADED ITEM NO. 15

2010 Halloween Report

 

As requested by the members following discussion on Motion 15 at the Lucan Area Committee Meeting in November 2010, set out hereunder is a report on the 2010 Halloween Season.

Halloween 2010 took place on Sunday 31st October.  In anticipation of this event a programme was put in place to minimise the opportunities for anti social activity and to reduce the number of bonfires countywide.  This programme involved a series of meetings between the Councils Community, Environment, Housing & Parks Departments in conjunction with An Garda Síochána, Fire Brigade & Civil Defence.

The following actions were agreed and implemented – 

·         Halloween Awareness Campaign – Posters/Leaflets were circulated to Schools, Communities, Households and Businesses.

·         SDCC liaised with the Gardaí to prevent availability of material for bonfires as far as practicable.

·         SDCC’s Cleansing Section and Parks Department removed debris from laneways, parks & open spaces.

·         Community/Business stakeholders encouraged to stop providing bonfire material and to remove such material as they see it emerging.

·         A "Bulbs not Bonfires" campaign was launched whereby communities who managed to keep a green space free from bonfires where they occurred in 2009 were rewarded with Bulbs.

·         The Council enabled free access to Ballymount Waste Disposal Centre on Saturday 30th October 2010 for residents of South Dublin County that were holders of a waste card.

The table below compares the 2009 Halloween season with the 2010 season.

  HALLOWEEN 2009 HALLOWEEN 2010 % REDUCTION
Illegal bonfires 523 343 34%
Tonnes of waste generated 387 310 20%
Total disposal cost to Council €28,535 €16,670 42%
Overall cost of Bonfire Clean-up Programme €101,525 €77,050 24%

Findings - 

The main factors contributing to the decrease in bonfires are as follows;

·         Positive reaction from the public to initiatives taken by Council, Gardaí, Fire Brigade & Civil Defence.

·         Success of Awareness Campaign.

·         Free admission for Council customers to Ballymount Waste Disposal Centre (163 tonnes collected).

·         Continued success of the 2 Organised Bonfires in North Clondalkin & West Tallaght.

·         Implementation of the Bulbs not Bonfires campaign - 23 estates involved.

·         Event falling on a Sunday may have helped as Gardaí & Fire Brigade reported the number of call outs/ambulance call outs & Public Order incidents were down significantly on previous years.

·         Bad weather in the lead up to bonfire night may have also reduced the number of fires.