COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 14, 2019

QUESTION NO. 32

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive to report to the October meeting of the Council of actions and plans now in place to deal with the challenge of the Halloween Bonfire season; will he give assurances and make a detailed statement?

REPLY:

The burning of waste is prohibited under legislation, 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 previous years the Council's response this Halloween Season as provided by our Public Realm Section has already commenced with a number of reports about storage of bonfire material having been received and responded to by Public Realm crews.  This will continue through the month of October followed by clean up of bonfire sites in November.

It should be noted that some requests being made by members of the public in terms of management / prevention of bonfires including for example the suspension of public transport, is outside the remit of the executive.

All available resources will be deployed to the preventative collections of bonfire materials prior to this Halloween, crews will be assigned to this task as necessary during normal working hours but also at weekends and on the run up to October 31st itself.

Priority will again be given to the removal of 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 where the Council are requested to take action by the Gardaí. Materials will not be removed from private property.

The exercise to survey and map bonfire sites in 2018 recorded a total of 280 bonfire sites (down from 388 in 2017) in total across the County.  The mapping exercise will be repeated once again in 2019, this will provide details of bonfire sites to be cleaned and these sites will also then need to be revisited for reinstatement in 2020 once ground conditions permit.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs / Drones) to detect the illegal stockpiling of bonfire material, will be continued and expanded this year. These drones are an important additional to the waste enforcement toolkit, and provide evidence to officers on the ground of areas where visibility is sometimes difficult.

Interesting statistics to note from 2018:  

• Over the weekend and days immediately prior to Halloween 2018, from Saturday October 27th to Wednesday October 31st, a total of 144.4 tonnes of bonfire materials was collected by this Council.
• In total the Council collected 522.9 tonnes of waste during both the lead up to Halloween and from the clean ups which took place during the weeks after Halloween.
• Our Waste Enforcement Section were in contact with over 150 businesses to advise them of their obligations regarding waste regulations, particularly relative to pallets and tyres.
• There were reports of 11 burnt out cars in the weeks around Halloween across Tallaght and Clondalkin causing unnecessary damage to our parks, pitches and open spaces, and in a separate incident damage was also caused to an ESB mini pillar in one location.
• The total cost to the Council's Public Realm Section in 2018 was €138,940. 

The 2019 Halloween strategy is 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 is currently being finalised. 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.
• The social credits scheme will also, once again, facilitate groups who are registered on the scheme with the disposal of materials at the Council's civic amenity site in Ballymount, and this will help to reduce the amount of materials being handed over for bonfires.
• The Council will examine how best to use social media to convey the importance of public safety and the protection of the environment during this Halloween season.
• Action by the Council's Environmental Licensing and Enforcement Section to deal with commercial premises and their obligations to properly store their waste including aerial surveys,
• The Public Realm response to remove stockpiles of bonfire materials has commenced,
• Liaison with An Garda Siochana with regard to action being taken by them and by the Council in relation to this matter.