COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
QUESTION NO. 16
QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor
To ask the CEO if his consideration of all matters relating to last year's Bonfire Season has informed proposals to deal with the challenges of the 2023 Season; will he appreciate the concerns of many regarding the annual cost of dealing with the issue and will he make a statement?
REPLY:
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, and the annual cost of dealing with these issues.
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 involved 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 commences in early September and continues throughout September and October. It will intensify as Halloween approaches.
- The Public Realm Section will have operational staff on duty over the bank holiday weekend of Halloween this year and the previous weekend collecting bonfire materials. In 2022 these collections captured in the region of 283 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.
- Continuation 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.
Electrical Recycling Collections for Halloween
RecycleIT, in association with South Dublin Country Council and in partnership with WEEE Ireland hosted a series of free door to door electrical recycling collection days in residential areas across South Dublin prior to Halloween in 2020, 2021 and 2022. 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 collections will be arranged again this year 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
South Dublin County Council intends running a mattress amnesty again this year in the month of September in conjunction with our social enterprise partners RecycleIT. Used mattresses will be collected, free of charge, at a number of designated collection points on dates during the course of September which will be notified to the public in due course. This event ran very successfully in 2022 with close to 1,000 used mattresses collected.
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. 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
A total of 184 bonfire sites were recorded around the County in 2022, very similar to the number in 2021 which was 180. This is in keeping with the major reduction on the numbers from previous years, 280 in 2020 and over 300 in preceding years. The Council held meetings with Kilnamanagh Neighbourhood Watch as well as residents from Aylesbury and Tymon North this year in advance of Halloween to coordinate the efforts of the residents, the Council and the Gardai in identifying and removing material stockpiles and minimising the impact of bonfires on those areas. A meeting was also held with Clondalkin area elected members on the same matter. The tonnage of material collected by the Council prior to Halloween in 2022 was 283 tonnes, this figure was 332 tonnes in 2021. The tonnage collected after Halloween was 296 tonnes in 2022, while this figure was 276 tonnes in 2021. Total tonnage collected in 2022 was 579 tonnes compared to 608 tonnes in 2021. It is proposed that meetings with concerned residents groups as mentioned above will be arranged again this year.
The clean-up of bonfire sites was completed in November 2022, landscape reinstatement at sites where required started to take place in March of this year once ground conditions were suitable.
It is not possible to provide information on costs for 2022, as all costs have not yet been accounted for, however it is expected that the overall cost will be down slightly on the 2021 cost which was €155,000. Reinstatement of bonfire sites where needed is currently taking place as ground conditions become suitable.
The costs associated with Halloween bonfires have increased in recent years and this relates to the increased efforts of the Council to intercept material, and the tonnage of material that is being intercepted before it reaches a bonfire. While it is not possible to attribute a reduction in costs to the various Halloween initiatives, we do know that the number of fires held and the number of open spaces damaged or destroyed by bonfires has reduced dramatically and this reduction relates directly to those inititatives mentioned. The diversion of matresses away from bonfires in particular is welcomed, as the burning of this type of material in the open obviously gives rise to environmental pollution.
The Council will continue to work with An Garda Siochana, Resident's Associations and local community groups to reduce the number of bonfire sites and materials, as outlined above the measures taken in 2023 will be broadly similar to those taken over the last few years which have yeilded a reduction in the number of sites and an increase in the amount of potential bonfire materials collected pre Halloween night.