COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

QUESTION NO. 4

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

"To ask that the Chief Executive issues a report update on what can be done to prevent a bonfire at the entrance to Lindisfarne Estate. This matter has been raised in the past and that the Chief Executive outlines what action he will take on the matter?"

REPLY:

The Council has always recognised the difficulties that Halloween causes for many communities through the illegal burning of waste on Halloween bonfires, the damage to local amenities, and the threat to property and local services.  In line with previous years the Council adopted a cross departmental approach, utilising the services of Public Realm, Waste Enforcement, Environmental Awareness, Library Service and Housing and Community Services Departments to prevent damage and promote the “Safe Halloween” message. The Council's response to Halloween in 2020 involved the following:

• Various awareness measures to highlight the dangers associated with bonfires and the harm done to the environment,
• 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 removed stockpiles of bonfire materials prior to Halloween night,
• Liaising with An Garda Siochana to exchange information regarding action being taken by them and by the Council in relation to stockpiling of bonfire materials and all related issues,
• Liaison with local residents groups who helped to identify the locations of material stockpiles,
• Implementation of the ‘bulbs not bonfires’ scheme,
• The Council operated a mattress 'amnesty' scheme again this year, in advance of Halloween. This was run on the Council's behalf by RecycleIT,
• The social credits scheme 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 helped to reduce the amount of materials being handed over for bonfires.

The situation regarding Covid 19 restrictions caused additional difficulties this year.  The Gardai informed the Council that they are unable to visit schools this year to promote a safe Halloween message, as would have happened in previous years.  The same difficulties arose in relation to Council staff visiting schools.  The promotion of a safe Halloween message therefore relied heavily this year on the use of social media.

Council staff were on duty on October 31st and removed stockpiles of bonfire material during the course of the day. The Council endeavours to maximise the quantity of material intercepted before it reaches a bonfire and this depends very much on the provision of information by local residents with regard to the location of material stockpiles. Such information can be submitted to the Council by telephone 01-4149000 or by email publicrealm@sdublincoco.ie

It is not possible to attend all sites on October 31st to remove bonfire material and priority locations are therefore targeted for collections. These locations include areas where bonfires are being constructed in close proximity to houses, power lines, roadsides and transport routes. The work is a high-risk activity and sometimes can only be carried out with the assistance of An Garda Siochána. Quite often material does not appear on site until late in the afternoon when staff have finished work. In an effort to prevent a bonfire at this location in future years, residents should contact the Council to arrange for removal of material. Every assistance will be provided subject to the restrictions as outlined above.