Not for the first time, members of the Garda Siochana have embarked on a campaign to enforce an unenforceable law - indeed it is an annual pastime for them with regard to this particular piece of geriatric legislation, the Explosives Act 1875. The act proscribes "every substance used or manufactured with a view to produce a practical effect by explosion or a pyrotechnic effect". Section 30 of the Act prohibits the "hawking, selling or exposing for sale of fireworks upon any highway, street, public thoroughfare or public place." Section 80 prohibits the "throwing, casting or firing of any fireworks on or into any highway, street, thoroughfare or public place".
Thus while the law seems clear enough (fireworks are illegal), Dublin children have known for decades which particular streets and markets to go to in search of "bangers" and other pyrotechnic delights at this time of year. And in the run up to Hallowe'en one week from now, the evidence of the success of their search will be heard nightly across suburbia. Clearly, there is a widespread attitude that fireworks, while they might be technically illegal, are little more than a bit of fun and the use of them a normal part of youthful exuberance. This double standard approach is not helped by the fact that applications are regularly made to the Department of Justice for licences to stage the sort of large-scale displays seen at St Patrick's Day festivals in recent years as well as last year's millennium New Year's Eve celebrations in Dublin. Such events - hugely popular and entertaining - have the effect of blurring the message that fireworks are otherwise illegal.
Fun they may be, but fireworks are also extraordinarily dangerous, in the wrong hands or from the wrong source. The annual rumpus in suburbia is accompanied by a stream of youngsters brought to Accident and Emergency units with burnt arms, legs and faces and missing fingers. Every year, unlucky children suffer sometimes dreadful and life-long injuries: for many, it may only be a case of singed eyebrows but for others it can be loss of sight. A significant contributory factor is that because the firework trade is underground, there are no safety standards to be enforced, with the result that many of the illegal fireworks sold here are Asian-made sub-standard devices which would not be passed for sale in other jurisdictions - such as Britain, where fireworks are legal.
It is not the fault of the Garda that illegal fireworks get into circulation every year. They had commendable success at the weekend with the seizure of an estimated £1 million worth. But clearly, if past experience is anything to go by, they will continue to enforce the law with limited success and children will continue to obtain fireworks, whose provenance is suspect, and whose effect may be lethal. Councillor Eric Byrne of the Labour Party has called for the legalisation of safe fireworks and stringent quality controls. He is right. This measure, together with a public education programme coming up to Hallowe'en, would be better than the existing bad law that is impossible to enforce.