Halloween is traditionally one of the busiest nights for the emergency services, and last night Dublin's fire and ambulance service had to deal with three times as many call-outs as they would on an ordinary week night.
"Between midnight and 7pm, there were 203 ambulance calls and 269 fire brigades called out. That number exceeded 600 between 8pm and 9pm and we expect to take in excess of 1,000 calls tonight," said David Bell, Third Officer of Dublin Fire Brigade.
Bonfires, fireworks and bangers all contributed to what Mr Bell said was one of the busiest nights ever recorded. However, he said extra staff were in place to control the rush, with some 180 staff on call.
Mr Bell said last night "was a very mild Halloween night" which brings a lot of people out to celebrate and the number of calls the emergency services received was expected to far exceed last year's figure of 727.
In the run-up to Halloween, Dublin City Council collected 56 tonnes of material stored for bonfires in the South Central area and some 100 tonnes in the North Inner city. The collections in the Dublin North West and North Central areas were expected to exceed those amounts.
However, despite preventative measures, a number of resourceful groups managed to hoard ample amounts of fuel to take bonfires around the city well into the night.
Mr Bell said there were "too many" bonfire's taking place across Dublin to specify locations. One of the largest reported bonfires took place at Blackhorse Avenue.
A number of Crumlin residents were up in arms at the prospects of a bonfire at Rathdrum Road, which resulted in a lengthy stand-off between them and a number of local youths.
"The reason we're here protesting is because of the anti-social behaviour that occurs on Halloween night. Last year, we had a large crowd of youngsters drinking, smashing bottles and urinating in people's gardens, and this year we're not going to stand for it," one of the protesters said.
One of the more colourful events that took place last night was organised by the Aontas Festival Group, which brought an eye-catching creation called Pooka's Labyrinth through Dublin's city centre streets.
Ghoulish skeletons, stilt-walking angels and demonic samba drummers entertained the masses as the 200-person parade made its way from City Hall to Smithfield Square for a fireworks display.
