COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, November 26, 2018

QUESTION NO. 15

QUESTION: Councillor D. Richardson

"To ask the Chief Executive to report on how much rubbish was taken in the run up to Halloween bonfires in the Tallaght area and could we have the cost of removing and the clean up from fires in the Tallaght area.  Would this Council look at rubbish collection from Estates for next Halloween?"

REPLY:

"A total of 280 bonfires have been recorded in South Dublin County in 2018 and while information is still being collated it appears that the Council has removed approximately 500 tonnes of bonfire materials, including both before and after the event, at an estimated cost of €120,000.  Of the 280 total number for the County just under half of these (136 in number) took place in the Tallaght area.  Every effort was made in the run up to Halloween to intercept and remove materials intended for bonfires.  In this regard the Council was particularly successful in removing materials in the days immediately prior to Halloween, from Saturday October 27th to Wednesday October 31st, when a total of 144.4 tonnes of bonfire materials was collected by this Council.   

It is also worth noting that a major bonfire was prevented in Kilnamanagh on this occasion and this required a coordinated effort involving local residents, An Garda Siochana and the Council.  While there is no figure available on the amount of waste diverted from Kilnamanagh it is known that approximately 1,000 wooden pallets were remove by Council staff from the location prior to Halloween along with large quantities of other waste materials including tyres.  Reports received from the Kilnamanagh area suggest that while a bonfire did take place there only a small quantity of waste was available to be placed on it. 

There are no plans for the Council to provide waste collections in the future in connection with Halloween.  The Council previously provided junk collections to households on a three or five year recurring basis.  These came to an end in 2008 with the economic downturn.  The annual cost of these collections was in the region of €600,000.  It is worth noting that these collections did not prevent bonfires from taking place, in fact the number of fires taking place annually at the time far exceeded the number of fires which now take place."