Halloween Chaos Shows Need to Enforce Laws – Rock

The levels of anti-social behaviour were out of control in Dublin this Halloween, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Fine Gael Deputy for Dublin North West, Noel Rock, was speaking after reports of attacks on Dublin Fire Brigade crews and Dublin Bus being forced to withdraw service in part of the city.

Speaking the day after Halloween, Deputy Rock said: “It is quite clear that something is amiss this year in relation to the deterrence of using illegal fireworks and bangers.

“I’ve never had as many complaints in any year as I did last night in relation to fireworks, bangers, antisocial behaviour and dumped materials.

“Fire brigade officials confirmed to me that this was a busier year in their experience than any of the last five.

“According to the Dublin Fire Brigade, they received a massive 1,100 calls yesterday, 70% of which were due to Halloween. This shows the volume of Halloween related issues they had to deal with, particularly with bonfires taking place close to people’s homes. It also reminds us that 30% of their calls were genuine people dealing with non-Halloween related fires. The ordinary daily work of the Fire Brigade had to continue despite the increased pressure placed on their services due to Halloween.

“Furthermore it is completely unacceptable that some fire crews were attacked when out doing their jobs.

“Also unacceptable is the fact that Dublin Bus had to withdraw service from the 79 and 79A route last night because of anti-social behaviour. While understandable, this meant that many people in the Cherry Orchard area were left without a bus last night, on a night you really wouldn’t want to be walking home with the levels of anti-social behaviour going on.

“It’s clear that when it comes to fireworks and antisocial behaviour, we need far more robust enforcement. It’s clear that laws are not being properly enforced here and the overwhelming view of people is that this needs to be more strictly applied.”