COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, May 09, 2022
QUESTION NO. 14
QUESTION: Councillor Derren Ó Brádaigh
To ask the Chief Executive for an update report on previous motion (Item No: 69755) April 2021 - agreeing to pilot project mapping discarded nitrous oxide cartridges (AKA silver bullets) across the county and any subsequent actions now planned in response or deemed appropriate?
REPLY:
The motion relating to this matter which was on the July 2021 County Council meeting agenda requested that we map finds of nitrous oxide cannisters. This exercise has been undertaken by the Public Realm Section since August '21 and in the first report in November '21 finds had been reported at a total of 18 locations and repeat finds and reports had been made about some of these locations. Those locations included -
- Council parks (Sean Walsh Park, Corkagh Park, Bancroft Park, Killenarden Park, Dodder Valley Park, St Cuthberts Park)
- Housing Estates (Boden Park, Monalea, Aylesbury, Woodford, Quarryvale, Adamstown, Balgaddy)
- Other locations (N7 pedestrian bridge at the Red Cow, Hellfire Club, Cruagh Wood, Grand Canal, Kilakee viewing point).
The exercise to gather this information is continuing, it has been ongoing for 9 months and will continue to August '22 to cover a full 12 month period. Only larger scale finds are being reported by Public Realm staff, finds of one or two 'silver bullets' are occurring daily across the county through daily cleaning activities and these are not being reported. Since the last report finds continue to be reported in the locations previously listed, large scale finds have since been reported in the following additional locations -
- Bolbrook Estate,
- St Cuthberts Meadows,
- Neilstown Shops,
- Greenfort Estate,
- Rowlagh Estate,
- Finnstown Priory,
- Lealand Estate,
- St James' Road.
The finds indicate use of these cannisters at some of the locations, while in other cases they appear to have been dumped in large quantities at the location of the find. The finds of larger cannisters of the substance appear to be more frequent now with each of these estimated to be equivalent to approximately 50 'silver bullets'. It has not been possible to quantify the number of small cannisters found as on occasions they have been found to number in the hundreds at a location. The data gathered to date shows that nitrous oxide use is occuring across the county however it cannot be used to determine how widespread this use is. It should be noted that use of this substance is currently not illegal and anecdotal evidence suggests that the cannisters can be easily purchased on-line.