Bonfires

Beacons and the hornet’s nest of bonfires

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on July 10, 2013, 3:30 pm | Readers 448

Bonfire in King George V Playing Fields in East Belfast

Driving into work every morning I pass a number of bonfire sites. The stacks of pallets strewn across the sites on the Donegall Road have been gradually sculpted into tall towers. It’s good to see an absence of tyres at Monarch Street. (Their bonfire suffered from being lit prematurely in 2011 and was given a Council-provided beacon and a hastily reconstructed tyre-ridden replacement bonfire.) Bonfires have rarely been out of the news headlines in recent weeks: Agreement was reached to …

“I have no problem with the burning of a tricolour on top of a bonfire”

John Ó Néill on June 27, 2013, 6:16 pm | Readers 865

DUP MLA Paul Girvan (PG below) did an interview with Frank Mitchell (FM) this afternoon where he expounded upon his ideas about bonfires and burning the Irish tricolour. I’ve included a transcript below, rather than comment, other than he may have got this memo, but he didn’t get this one (and he probably burnt the one from Chris). That first link brings you to the full audio. FM: Ballyduff is only one of many bonfires which may or may not have an effigy, do you …

Some more Bonfires/Bonefires/Bonies

Moochin Photoman on July 11, 2011, 5:45 pm | Readers 269

Cluan Place/ Junction of Albertbridge Rd. The tarmac has been protected by a layer of sand. It hadn’t been repaired since last years bonefire. 3 days on from my last visit…… Donegal Pass which has no tyres or flags on it (at lunchtime) and also has a beacon. This makes me think that this might be a bonfire site signed up to the Bonfire Management Scheme. There are countless smaller bonfires across the city If anyone is in town tomorrow …

NI Fahrenheit 45 101 – Fire Service seek to burn a blog

Blank on September 21, 2010, 10:44 pm | Readers 6

“I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense.” I didn’t expect to return to my costing 11th bonfires blog series until a final entry bringing together all the drains on the public purse. However I’m forced to revist the topic today as the first entry in the series attracted an unexpected response from the Freedom of Information Co-Ordinator [sic] at the NI Fire and Rescue Service. I …

Synchronicity? Or cribbing?

Blank on September 3, 2010, 6:21 pm | Readers 1

A quick aside. I see Tommy Burns MLA quite regularly at our gaelic club and we have an occasional chat. We’ve never discussed Slugger to my recollection and certainly haven’t chatted about my posts on the costs of 11th July bonfires.

I’m surprised to see that completely independently he has asked the exact same questions on costs to the Fire Service that I had answered back on 19th August.

The Irish News, Belfast Telegraph and UTV all say;

The figures were revealed by the Assembly after a freedom of information question from the SDLP’s Thomas Burns

mmmmm…..

Update: As per Nevin’s comment below – it was synchronicity. What are the odds on that?

Blank

11th bonfires – what the Councils pay

Blank on August 20, 2010, 8:16 pm | Readers 32

Yesterday I examined increasing expenditure over the last five years for the Fire Service in dealing with 11th July bonfires (circa £4 million in total) Today I will provide some figures showing the increase in Council funding for events linked to these bonfires over the same period. Unfortunately only half responded within the time limits set under Freedom of Information. I will follow up with the slackers for the grand total at the end of series. The figures for 2010 …

No water – just the cost of (bon)fires

Blank on August 19, 2010, 10:09 pm | Readers 45

Slugger can’t handle much more water. So I will start what will be a series of blogs attempting to discover an absolute figure for public expenditure on 11th July bonfires. First up is costs to the Fire Service. Reports for the last five reporting years show callouts on the 11th night alone have consistently fallen across all areas. However, the total number of calls to what the NIFRS classify as a ‘bonfire incident’ between May and July reached its highest …

Bonfire did not wipe Council’s eye after all…

Mick Fealty on July 14, 2010, 1:30 pm | Readers 15

Further to Mark’s post, ‘Belfast bonfire builders wipe Council’s eye’, Belfast City Council have been in touch and have offered us this statement to clarify that the bonfire he mentioned on Friday was not part of their bonfire management scheme: Despite attempts by council officers to engage with those responsible for the bonfire at the City Hospital, the organisers indicated, at an early stage, that they did not want to be involved in the council’s bonfire management scheme, but would …