COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, June 13, 2022

QUESTION NO. 24

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive if he is working on plans to deal with the challenge of the Halloween season in October; was anything learned through the review of the 2021 activities; will he give assurances to those concerned about the cost to the Council each year and will he make a statement?

REPLY:

The preparation for Halloween 2022 will commence over the summer months, measures to be implemented will be very similar to those taken in recent years which appear to have resulted in a reduction in the number of bonfires and the resulting damage done to open spaces around the county.  This has been brought about by measures taken by the Council, local communities and the Gardai working together in this area.  The Council recognises 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 response to Halloween in recent years the Council has adopted a cross departmental approach utilising the services of Public Realm, Waste Enforcement, Environmental Awareness, Library Services, Housing and Community Services Departments to prevent damage and promote the “Safe Halloween” message. The Council's response to Halloween in 2022 will involve the following elements as it has done in other recent years:

• Various awareness measures to highlight the dangers associated with bonfires and the harm done to the environment.
• Funding of community based activities which are intended to divert children away from bonfires and other anti-social behaviour.
• Action by the Council's Environmental Licensing and Enforcement Section to deal with commercial premises and their obligations to properly store their waste including waste tyres and pallets (including aerial surveys of premises where necessary).
• The Public Realm response to remove stockpiles of bonfire materials has commenced and will continue throughout September and October and will intensify as Halloween approaches.
• The Public Realm Section will have operational staff on duty over the bank holiday weekend and the Halloween weekend collecting bonfire materials, in recent years these collections captured in the region of 250 tonnes of materials and diverted it away from bonfires. 
• Liaison with An Garda Siochana with regard to action being taken by them and by the Council in relation to this matter.
• Liaison with local residents groups who can help to identify the locations of material stockpiles.
• Implementation of the ‘bulbs not bonfires’ scheme which is a reward provided through South Dublin County Council’s Social Credit Scheme. This initiative provides communities with flowers in the Spring instead of scarred open space throughout the year. In recent years the Council has spent approximately €2,500 per year on bulbs for this popular scheme and it is envisaged that a similar sum will be spent again this year on the scheme. 
• 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.
• Provision has been made in the budget for the holding of a community Halloween event this year which is intended to divert youths away from bonfire activities, options are currently being considered for what this event might be and further information will be provided on this at the earliest possible date. 

Electrical Recycling Collections for Halloween

RecycleIT, in association with South Dublin Country Council and in partnership with WEEE Ireland has hosted a series of free door to door electrical recycling collection days in residential areas across South Dublin prior to Halloween in both 2020 and 2021.  These collection days are now annual events and help ensure hazardous electrical equipment and batteries don’t find their way onto seasonal Bonfires.  This scheme helps residents to recycle all types of electrical, electronic and battery-operated equipment including old heaters, electronic toys, TV’s, washing machines, cookers, kettles, phones and computers, and any other item with a plug or battery (including batteries).  RecycleIT are in contact regularly with residents associations regarding this service and at present 3 such collections are arranged for the period prior to Halloween.

Recycle IT is very happy to work with community groups and resident’s associations to arrange free electrical recycling collections in September and October and throughout the year. Groups can call 01 4578321 or email info@recycleit.ie to learn more and take the first steps to arranging a FREE collection event for your estate or neighbourhood.

Mattress Recycling

As part of South Dublin County Council’s Mattress Amnesty 2021 the Council's social enterprise partners RecycleIT collected used mattresses free of charge at various locations around the county during the month of October.  It is expected that this service will be organised to run again in 2022.  Mattresses were also accepted at the  RecycleIT Facility at Crag Terrace, Clondalkin Industrial Estate, Dublin 22

The Bulbs not Bonfires Scheme continues to run annually as part of the Council's response to issues arising at Halloween.  This is part of the wider Social Credits Scheme which is operated by the Council's Environmental Awareness Section.  In response to the suggestion here, and to similar requests received, consideration is being given to changing the type of bulb provided to participants in the scheme.  To date the Council has issued daffodil bulbs only and these can continue to be provided to community groups who request these.  Where a group requests pollinator friendly bulbs it is proposed that crocus, muscari, snowdrop, allium and other bulbs can be supplied.  The Council policy is to map areas of biodiverse planting and in time this mapped information will be made available to the public.  The assistance of community groups who plant such areas will be requested in this mapping process, so that the Council's grass cutting programme can be organised to work around the areas which are planted by community groups. For more information please contact the office at envawareness@sdublincoco.ie

One change that occurred in 2020 and 2021 was that due to Covid 19 restrictions the Gardai and the Council's environmental awareness staff were unable to visit schools to speak directly to students about the dangers associated with Halloween, and this led to these messages being promoted through social media.  It is hoped that these school visits will resume in person this year now that Covid 19 restrictions have been lifted.  These messages will continue to be promoted on social media as well. 

Two aspects of the measures taken in recent years appear to have had a major impact on reducing bonfire activities.  These are the pre-Halloween collections of bonfire materials by Council staff, and the measures taken by local communities with the assistance of the Gardai and the Council to deter the holding of bonfires in their local areas.  These measures will be considered to determine how they can be further developed to bring about a continued reduction in the level of damage done by the holding of these bonfires.