COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, February 08, 2021
QUESTION NO. 16
QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor
To ask the Chief Executive if he proposes to carry out a review of his current policy in respect of the annual challenge of bonfire season and will he appreciate the concerns regarding the huge costs to the Council regarding works associated with bonfire activities and will he make a statement
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 will adopt 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 recent years has 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 response to remove stockpiles of bonfire materials will has already commenced and will continue through the month of October,
- Liaison with An Garda Siochana as already commenced, 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 can help to identify the locations of material stockpiles,
- Implementation of the ‘bulbs not bonfires’ scheme,
- The Council has held a mattress 'amnesty' in recent years, which was successfully run by RecycleIT in 2020 where over 1,000 mattresses were collected despite the covid restrictions in place at that time.
- Recycle IT also operate mobile collections of household WEEE and these have been held prior to Halloween to divert those waste streams away from bonfires. We are also exploring possible other pilot schemes with Recycle IT, which could help contribute to the efforts to address the impact of Halloween each year.
- The social credits scheme will 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 situation regarding Covid 19 restrictions caused additional difficulties in 2020 whereby the Gardai and the Council's environmental awareness staff were unable to make visits to schools, it is uncertain at this time if this will continue to be the case in the run up to Halloween 2021 The promotion of a safe Halloween message relied on the use of social media in 2020 and this will continue to be an important aspect of getting the message across in relation to safety and environmental awareness.
The costs associated with the response to Halloween in 2020 were very similar to the costs incurred in 2019, the table below sets out the details for the past 3 years. It should be noted that all costs have not yet been incurred, as reinstatement where required of damaged areas will not take place until March/April when ground conditions have improved.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Waste removed prior to Halloween (tonnes) | 194 | 237 | 237 |
| Waste removed after Halloween | 301 | 348 | 355 |
| Total waste removed | 495 | 585 | 592 |
| Cost | €120,000 | €150,000 | €150,000 |
| Number of bonfires | 280 | 256 | 283 |
The Council's Public Realm Section will carry out a review as suggested of all issues relating to Halloween, the input and assistance of other departments who have a role in the matter will be sought at the time.