COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 11, 2017

MOTION NO.6

MOTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

That this South Dublin County Council calls on the CEO to prepare a strategy for the 2018 Bonfire season noting the concern of many communities in respect of these activities which result in serious damage to Open Spaces; will he include in his response a report covering the 2017 Bonfire season confirming the cost to the Council and the schedule being followed in respect of the reinstatement of Open Spaces and will he also respond to calls for a dedicated telephone line to deal with requests from the public and groups to collect potential material for Bonfires. Charlie O'Connor

REPORT:

The burning of waste is prohibited under legislation, and bonfires waste valuable Council resources in the removal and disposal of material, while many communities also suffer from the social, economic and environmental cost of this activity.

As in all previous years, the Councils response this (2017) Halloween Season as provided by our Public Realm Section commenced in early / mid-October, at which time every effort was made to collect materials which are being stored on public owned lands and are intended for use on bonfires. 

All available resources were deployed to the preventative collections of bonfire materials prior to this Halloween and crews were working through the bank holiday weekend (excluding Sunday 29^th October) in response to the reports received.

Due to the large number of reports received it was not physically possible to remove all reported material.

Priority was given to material located beside or very close to houses, park facilities such as playgrounds and pavilions, under overhead services such as power lines, and on main traffic routes (roads/ verges) where a threat may arise to traffic and as directed by the Gardaí.

The exercise to survey and map bonfire sites commenced after Halloween, and 388 bonfires were recorded as follows:

• North of N7 =     148
• South of N7 =     240

All clean-ups have now taken place and reseeding (as appropriate) will commence in Spring 2018.

Interesting statistics to note:  

• From mid-October to 31^st October, through reports made directly through the offices and through our out of office hours service, the Council was notified of c 300 locations (excluding duplicate locations) advising of stockpiling.
• a total of 55 tonnes of bonfire materials was collected by the staff and prevented from being placed on bonfires over the Bank Holiday weekend and including Tuesday 31^st October 2017.
• In the two week period prior to Halloween a further quantity of waste materials totalling 156 tonnes was collected by SDCC staff and it is estimated that the vast majority of this was material intended for bonfires. 
• Post Halloween 201 tonnes of waste was removed
• The cost of Halloween 2017 was c €87,000 including payroll, plant /machinery and waste disposal costs. 

The 2018 Halloween strategy will be similar to the strategy engaged in previous years which also provides for a safe and pro-environmental message as follows:

• a colourful information leaflet providing facts and tips on how to stay safe at Halloween.   The leaflet also contains details of the various family events hosted by South Dublin County Council’s Libraries.
• Door to door WEEE collection prior to Halloween by RecycleIT
• A Halloween pack including information and activity sheets will be made available to all schools
• Halloween Recycle workshops are being carried out in schools
• Bulbs not Bonfires scheme is being provided through the Social Credits Scheme. This is a reward available and the initiative provides communities with flowers in the spring in return for organising alternative Halloween activities which will not harm our environment.
• Passes will be provided to social credits applicants for access to the Civic Amenity Site from the 16^th October – 13^th November 2018