COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

MOTION NO. 19

MOTION: Councillor M. Ward

"To ask the Chief Executive to provide additional resources pre and post Halloween to both remove illegal bonfire material and associated illegal dumping  pre Halloween and to clean up the bonfire sites post Halloween as promptly as possible. These resources should be directed towards the worst bonfires last year as identified by members."

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.

The Council makes concerted efforts each year to control this illegal activity through a range of measures from education to enforcement.

Public Realm staff are already engaged in the collection of bonfire material across the county where reports have been received from Elected Members, the general public and our own staff.

It is important to note that Council staff can only remove bonfire material from public property, and bonfire material stored on private property, such as front or back gardens, cannot be removed. However, the Council does have powers under the Waste Management Act 1996 whereby a notice can be served on the owner of the property, requiring them to remove the material.

The majority of bonfire construction only takes place on Halloween itself, often not starting until after our staff have finished work for the day. While the Council endeavours to deal with as many calls as possible, it is not possible to deal with every single case.

The Council will have staff working to remove bonfire material, on a prioritised basis, from locations around the county up until normal finishing time on Halloween.   Priority locations include bonfires being constructed in close proximity to houses, power lines, roadsides and transport routes. Particular attention is given to bonfire removal requests from the Gardaí where they have identified a threat to property or services such as public transport.

The post Halloween clean up commences once the bonfires are out and this phase normally continues to the end of November.  All available resources are deployed to both the preventative collections of bonfire materials prior to Halloween, and to the clean-up of bonfire sites post Halloween.