Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to echo our support for the motion. It is really good, and could and should have gone unamended. I welcome the Minister to the Chamber.

The Minister of State, Deputy Browne, who made the opening statement, referred to the awareness campaign that has been launched. A number of Deputies and Ministers in the Chamber are of my generation or are a few years younger or older than me. The Minister of State and Deputies Gannon and Ward all grew up with awareness campaigns in the newspapers or on television. Growing up, the message about the dangers of fireworks was hammered home for decades, including the fact they are illegal, etc. To have this stated at the beginning and end of the opening remarks does not carry much weight in tackling this issue.

I want to point to a reply to a parliamentary question received by my colleague, Deputy Sean Sherlock. It refers to the amount that has been spent on these campaigns over the past four years. It puts in context the lack of real effort and urgency that has been put into this issue over the past number of years. In 2016, €34,680 was spent while in 2017, €36,676 was spent. In 2018, the figure dropped to €29,090. In 2019, just €17,000 was spent, less than half of what was spent in 2017. The money was mainly spent on newspaper ads, and in the past couple of years the spend moved towards social media. Every Deputy will have experience of taking out newspaper ads and knows the cost of a quarter, half or even full-page advertisement in a local newspaper in their town or constituency. I am not sure how far €36,000 would have gone in spreading awareness about the danger of illegal fireworks. I am not convinced in any way, shape or form that there has been a shift in urgency, despite the very impassioned contribution by Deputy McAuliffe who I know feels strongly about this. He is a Government backbencher and has done work locally on this.

The work locally is not being reflected in any kind of increase in Government action or funding on this issue. We have never had an August or September like this in north county Dublin in terms of fireworks, and the same has been reflected all over the city and county of Dublin. Fireworks were an issue when I was growing up. They were around, but they were not easy to get. They were not everywhere. They would always make an appearance very close to Hallowe'en.

All of the work that local authorities are doing, including the fireworks displays, organised events and costume events, do a great job in terms of reducing the number of illegal bonfires and other activities leading up to Hallowe'en. That is now all being undone. Other Deputies referred to community Garda resources, which we have discussed in previous debates and will discuss again. The proof will be in the pudding in five weeks in the budget. We will see how much the Government really values increasing resources for gardaí and getting our gardaí where they need to be.

This is about more than just gardaí; it is about our customs. It is about stopping the importation of fireworks at source. Where are they coming from? Are they coming from Europe or the UK? We need more detail on where they are coming from so that we can stop them from coming into the country. It cannot just be down to community gardaí to deal with this issue. What has been a problem for years has become a crisis. I again thank Deputy Ward for bringing the motion forward. I look forward to supporting it in the vote tomorrow.

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