Dublin City Council has expressed concern that somes businesses are using Halloween bonfires as an excuse to dump waste material.
The council says it has received several reports in recent weeks of businesses providing tyres, old furniture and other waste materials to young people for bonfires.
Dublin Lord Mayor Paddy Bourke
"Apart from being illegal and subject to prosecution, it is irresponsible for adults to encourage illegal bonfires by providing materials and venues for fires," Dublin Lord Mayor Paddy Bourke said.
He was speaking at the launch this year's Halloween safety campaign jointly sponsored by the council and Dublin Fire Brigade.
Mr Bourke said:"Bonfires and fireworks at Halloween are extremely dangerous, cause a lot of injuries and damage, costing the city and the fire brigade in excess of a million euros every year in clean-up and rescue operations."
Dublin Fire Brigade warned that illegal bonfires and fireworks at Halloween puts hundreds of lives at risk and resulted in extra callouts for the emergency services.
"In 2006 we dealt with 727 emergency call outs in a 12-hour period on Halloween night alone," says chief fire officer Hugh O'Neill said.
The council is forced to spend more than €1 million every year on cleaning up parks, football pitches and community greens that are damaged by bonfires.
"Apart from the environmental costs of emitting toxic pollutants into the atmosphere, it takes 18 months for burnt earth to fully recover," a spokesman said.
A Halloween safety pack, comprising leaflets, posters and a safety DVD made by Dublin Fire Brigade, is being sent to every primary and post-primary school in Dublin this week as part of the campaign.
The council has also established a freephone number (1800 251500) and email address (waste.management@dublincity.ie) for householders and businesses to contact anonymously to report sightings of materials being stockpiled for bonfires.