COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

MOTION NO. 1

MOTION: Councillor G. O'Connell

"To ask the Chief Executive for a report on Bonfires in the Palmerstown Lucan Area this year and in particular to include in his report the cost of cleaning up after the fires, the number of calls from residents prior to Halloween to have material removed, the amount removed and to make a statement on the matter."

 

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 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 (23 in the Lucan Electoral Area)
• South of N7 =     240

All clean-ups have now taken place.

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 2018 was c €87,000 including payroll, plant /machinery and waste disposal costs. 
• The cost of the cleanup in the Lucan Electoral Area is estimated to be €5,200.

The 2017 Halloween strategy, which will be followed in 2018, was similar to the strategy engaged in previous years which also provided for safe and pro-environmental messages and initiatives 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 was made available to all schools.
• Halloween Recycle workshops were carried out in schools.
• Bulbs not Bonfires scheme was 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 were provided to social credits applicants for access to the Civic Amenity Site from the 16^th October – 13^th November 2017.