COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, November 25, 2019

MOTION NO. 1

MOTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

Chairman's Motion - that this Tallaght Area Committee calls on the CEO to present a full report on his actions to deal with the challenges presented throughout Tallaght by the recent Bonfire season; will he give details of the amount of  material collected and the costs involved in the operation and will he also give details of the estimated cost of restoring Open Spaces damaged through the season and will he also confirm if any actions have been taken or planned against local businesses which provided material for Bonfires and will he make a statement for discussion.

REPORT:

All available resources were deployed to remove bonfire materials prior to this Halloween, crews were assigned to this task as necessary during normal working hours but also at weekends and on the run up to October 31st itself. Early contact was made with the Gardai to ensure that information was exchanged between SDCC and AGS and that assistance was provided as necessary in the effort to locate and remove the threat associated with bonfires and the storage of bonfire materials. 

A total of 237 tonnes of material was collected by the Council over the period from October 21st to 31st.  Crews worked on both Saturday and Monday of the October bank holiday weekend to maximise the collection of material prior to it being burned.  Removal of material from bonfire sites is not yet complete therefore a final tonnage figure for collection of burnt waste post Halloween is not available as yet and therefore the final cost of clean up is not yet available. 

The exercise to survey and map bonfire sites is ongoing and nearing completion, at this time it appears that the total number of bonfires in 2019 will match the 280 bonfires in 2018.  It is expected that this exercise will be completed by the end of the month and that a total number of bonfires will be available then along with a final cost for both pre Halloween and post Halloween clean up.  The mapping exercise will provide details of bonfire sites which will need to be revisited in 2020 for reinstatement works to be carried out, once ground conditions permit. 

The Council's environmental licensing and enforcement section made contact with a large number of businesses prior to Halloween advising them of their responsibilities under waste legislation with regard to the storage of waste, urging these businesses to ensure that waste materials were not available for bonfires.  A high level of compliance was achieved in this regard and no enforcement action is proposed at this time.