City officials reject Sinn Féin call to ban bonfires

Cork’s city officials have rejected calls for a bonfire ban at the city’s annual bonfire night celebrations.

It follows a call yesterday for the scrapping of the bonfire element of the city council-supported bonfire night events — five of which were staged across the city on Monday night at a cost of €30,000, attracting a record 13,000 people.

Illegal bonfires were lit across the city from early Monday evening — most of them on the northside — with the smell of smoke up to 14km outside the city.

In Farranree, fire-fighters came under attack at around 8.30pm from youths throwing rocks and bottles. The windscreen of a fire truck was smashed. No fire-fighters were injured.

A spokesman for the fire service said this was an isolated incident, and fire crews found it much quieter this bonfire night than in previous years — responding to about 60 call-outs from 4pm on Monday to 4am yesterday compared to 200 eight years ago. Most of the call-outs were to observe illegal bonfires but they had to quench two built in dangerous locations — including one lit under pylons off the South Link Road.

Gardaí made up to 10 arrests across the city, mostly for public order offences.

However, record numbers were in attendance at the city-sanctioned celebrations at Kilmore Park in Knocknaheeny, Pophams Park in Farranree, Glenamoy Park in Mayfield, Loughmahon Park in Mahon, and Clashduv Park in Togher.

Almost 3,000 people attended the Clashduv Park event where arts groups worked with local community youth groups to build a giant wooden locomotive, which was burned in a large bonfire.

In Loughmahon, 3,000 people watched a giant wooden dinosaur burn in a spectacular bonfire.

Lantern-making workshops, fire sculptures, face painting, and puppet shows took place on site.

However, Mahon-based Sinn Féin councillor Chris O’Leary said despite their success, it is time to scrap bonfires at the official events.

“We’ve made marked improvements over the years, but we need to take the next step,” he said.

“I think we are sending out the wrong message by telling teens in one area that ‘a fire here is okay, because we are controlling it’, but ‘your fire isn’t okay, because it’s not controlled’. It’s just playing silly games, and we need to bite the bullet now and get rid of the bonfires.”

However, a spokesman for the city’s parks and recreation department said the managed events have been a huge success.

“They are organised by local communities, designed by local communities and for a very modest budget, they have a great impact,” he said.

“The feedback we got from this year’s event was fantastic and very positive. It’s about recognising the history and Cork tradition that is Bonfire Night, and celebrating it in a constructive manner.

“I remember at the first of these events in Clashduv Park seven years ago. There was a pall of black smoke across the city. I was there on Monday night and could only see a few isolated pockets of smoke. There is still a problem in some areas but we have to acknowledge that we’ve moved on and there has been a huge cultural change.”