COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 11, 2023

QUESTION NO. 23

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the CEO if he has prepared a report on the Council's actions to deal with the challenge of the recent Halloween season including confirmation of costs to deal with the whole situation and will he make a statement?

REPLY:

The collection of bonfire materials commenced in September and as in other years the majority of material stockpiles which were intercepted were removed by Public Realm staff in the two week period prior to Halloween itself.  There were 213 bonfires recorded this year which is up slightly from the 184 bonfires recorded in 2022, the number is still largely in keeping with the reduction in the numbers which occurred from previous years where 280 were recorded in 2020 and over 300 were recorded in some recent years. 

While the number of bonfires is up the tonnage of materials recorded to date as collected is down on 2022.  The tonnage of material collected by the Council in the 2 weeks prior to Halloween was 198 tonnes (283 tonnes were collected in 2022) and the tonnage collected afterwards is currently at 290 tonnes however not all bonfire sites have been cleaned as yet due to the extremely wet periods of weather in both October and November.  The tonnage of material collected after Halloween 2022 was 296 tonnes. Total tonnage collected to date stands at 488 tonnes with not all sites cleared as yet, the total in 2022 was 579 tonnes. 

It is not possible to provide information on costs at this time as all costs have not yet been accounted for due to the fact that some sites have not yet been cleaned.  The costs are determined for the most part by the tonnage of material collected, this is likely to be similar to 2022 and therefore total costs are likely to be similar also.  It should also be noted that reinstatement of bonfire sites where this is needed will not take place until spring 2024 as ground conditions are currently extremely wet and not able to take traffic.