More than 450 Dublin City Council staff clean-up before, during and after St Patrick’s Festival

Dublin City Council would like to thank all its more than 450 hard-working Waste Management staff for their excellent efforts to clean the city after a very busy few days over the St Patrick’s Festival. 

Preparations for cleaning operations began at the start of the year. The Waste Management team were involved in the planning process with key stakeholders (An Garda Siochana, Dublin Fire Brigade, Dublin City Council Event Management Team, Event Organisers), working collaboratively to ensure all services are provided to the highest standard.

Waste Management Operations

On Monday evening 16 March, a full crew of 50 staff were on duty from 10pm to 6am. This crew provided a full street cleaning and street washing service and also delivered over 100 litter barrels to specific locations agreed in advance with our event management team and An Garda Siochana.

For St. Patrick’s Day, the Waste Management team divided the parade route into 4 zones:

Zone 1 focused on the staging area of the parade at Western Way right through to O’Connell St. This team of 20 staff manually and mechanically swept pavements and footpaths and removed any horse manure immediately after the parade left Western Way.

Zones 2 & 3 covered the area from O’Connell St to Patrick St and all city centre streets including the boardwalk. These key zones were serviced from 6am to 9pm, with 70 staff on duty at all times throughout the day. 

Zone 4 covered the area from St. Patrick’s St to St. Stephen’s Green, where the parade finished. This team of 20 staff remained in the area until the parade finished, and the area was thoroughly cleaned. This team also serviced the Camden Street area.

Throughout the day, the Waste Management team had an inspector in the control room. All requests for the service were directed through this inspector, who was in constant contact with the onsite teams throughout the day.

A full night shift crew of 50 staff were on duty on St. Patrick’s night from 10pm to 6am this morning. This team provided a thorough street cleaning and street washing service and also removed litter barrels from the city centre.

Crews that normally begin their shift at 6am, began their shift at 4am this morning to bring the city-centre up to Grade A as quickly as possible and will maintain this standard throughout the day.

Other locations throughout St Patrick’s Day such as the Guinness Storehouse were also serviced by crews operating outside the commercial district.

As St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Tuesday, the city-centre was exceptionally busy in the days leading up to this event. The Waste Management team had up to 450 staff on duty over three days to deliver a consistent street cleaning service during this busy period. 

924 public litter bins in the city centre were serviced several times each day and the 100-plus litter barrels were serviced constantly throughout the day on St Patrick’s Day.

It is anticipated that roughly 40 tonnes of waste was collected through mechanical and manual street cleaning, and the continuous cycle of emptying public litter bins and barrels on St Patrick’s Day.

ENDS