James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, I thank the Deputy for raising this very important matter. As he will be aware, fireworks, as explosives, are regulated under national and EU legislation. They can only be imported into the country under licence and must be stored and sold in accordance with the explosives laws. Government policy restricts the availability of all hazardous fireworks to the general public. Licences under the Explosives Act are issued by the Department only for the importation of fireworks to be used in organised displays conducted by professional and competent operators. Nevertheless, the Minister is all too conscious of the numerous incidents, and sadly some serious accidents, arising from the use of illegal fireworks.

Every year in the run-up to Hallowe'en, both the Department and An Garda Síochána engage in additional work to try to keep everyone safe and to raise awareness of the dangers associated with the improper use of fireworks. As Hallowe'en approaches, the Department runs a safety campaign, working with various stakeholders and partners, to ensure a message of safety and compliance reaches as wide an audience as possible. Aside from the very important safety aspects of the campaign, it also highlights the serious penalties that people can face, given that breaches of the legislation governing the importation and use of fireworks are, quite rightly, treated as very serious offences.

In addition to this work undertaken by the Department, An Garda Síochána engages in Operation Tombola at this time of the year, which aims to combat the illegal importation, sale and use of fireworks. The Garda Commissioner has informed the Minister that each district puts in place an operational plan to tackle the sale of fireworks, including through combating the importation, sale and distribution of illegal fireworks through intelligence-led operations, visits to local car boot sales, searches and seizures of fireworks; liaising with local authorities and fire services regarding the provision of official supervised bonfire sites, the policing of these, and the identification and removal of stockpiled bonfire material and abandoned vehicles from other locations; promoting awareness of the dangers associated with the improper use of fireworks and unsupervised bonfires through the media, social media, school visits and information leaflet distribution by Garda members and the crime prevention officer; high-visibility policing of the Hallowe'en night celebrations; and utilising the divisional public order unit on Hallowe'en night. The Deputy will be aware that Operation Tombola also focuses on preventing associated public disorder and antisocial behaviour through the incremental deployment of resources, including Garda public order units to augment local plans, as appropriate.

As for legislation, as well as Part 6 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, which gives An Garda Síochána the powers to make arrests in respect of the possession of unlicensed fireworks, a number of strong legislative provisions are available to the Garda to combat antisocial behaviour more generally, including the Criminal Damage Act 1991, the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 2003 and the Intoxicating Liquor Acts 2003 and 2008.

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