Over £13k spent cleaning-up after Galliagh August 15 bonfire in five years

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons outlined the expenditure in response to a query from Mark H. Durkan who asked him to detail the costs associated with the clean-up of the bonfire at Galliagh Linear Park.

He replied: “My Department provides annual funding to Derry City and Strabane District Council for additional cleansing, maintenance and remedial works which includes funding for emergency clean-ups after bonfires at Galliagh Linear Park. In the past five years the following amounts have been allocated for this purpose: 2019/20 - £2,601; 2020/21 - £2,679; 2021/22 - £2,759; 2022/23 - £2,842; 2023/24 - £2,927.”

The total spend was £13,808.

Bonfires were traditionally lit in nationalist areas in August to mark the Feast of the Assumption of Mary and before then the lúnasa harvest festival. From the 1970s they became associated with the uprising against internment but have been phased out in most places.