€140,000 spent so far cleaning up sites after Halloween mess

OVER €140,000 was spent by South Dublin County Council last Halloween on the removal of bonfire material before it was lit and the clean-up of sites where bonfires occurred.

At Monday’s monthly council meeting, SDCC stated that 308 tonnes of bonfire material was intercepted before Halloween, while 290 tonnes of burnt waste was collected after the event.

When asked by Cllr Charlie O’Connor (FF) about the cost of this work, the council stated: “Overall costs to date associated with both the interception of the material prior to burning and of the clean-up of bonfire sites post-Halloween currently stands at over €140,000.

“This is expected to rise to over €150,000 when all costs have been included.

“It is not possible to provide information on the final costs at this time as the cost associated with reinstatement of sites where this is necessary is not known and will not be known until the reinstatement work is completed once ground conditions have firmed up.”

The rubbish left behind after the bonfires at Rathminton in Jobstown and Tymonville the day after Halloween

The council’s public realm team commenced the collection of bonfire material in late August/early September last year in a bid to prevent bonfires being lit in the county.

However, figures released by the council show that the number of bonfires in South Dublin County during Halloween 2023 was up compared to the previous year.

There were 213 bonfires recorded last 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,” said the council, “where 280 were recorded in 2020 and over 300 were recorded in some recent years.”