COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, November 22, 2021

QUESTION NO.

QUESTION: Councillor T. Costello

''To ask the manager to date, how much has halloween cost in relation to repairing damage caused.''

REPLY:

It is not yet possible to determine accurately the cost to the Council of Halloween bonfires in 2021.  The clean up of bonfire sites is not yet complete and the cost of reinstatement which will for the most part take place in Spring 2022 cannot be determined as yet.  Some of the figures that are available are as follows -

A total of 332 tonnes of bonfire materials was collected by staff from the Public Realm Section in the run up to Halloween, and this is an increase on the tonnage of material intercepted prior to Halloween in previous years.  Public Realm crews collected 70 tonnes of bonfire material on Halloween weekend itself and 33 tonnes of material on the bank holiday weekend prior to Halloween.

The number of bonfires held in 2021 appears to have decreased from 2020.  There has been a total of 180 bonfire sites counted to date however this number requires further confirmation.  If confirmed this would represent a major decrease on the 280 bonfire sites counted in 2020 and may have been caused by a combination of the wet weather at Halloween as well as the Council's increased success in intercepting materials before they reached the bonfires. 

It is not clear how these facts will affect the overall cost, a reduction in bonfires should have the effect of reducing clean up costs however the increase in tonnage intercepted will obviously increase the bottom line cost.  The final information on costs will be made available once all costs can be taken into account.