“That in view of the risk balloons waste can pose to wild animals, birds and the marine environment and its contribution to litter generally, Cork County Council would ban balloon releases within its jurisdiction.” 

“Balloon releases are beautiful.  They are emotional, symbolic and are generally organised for very worthy charitable causes and special commemorative events.

But the reality is that the few minutes that magnificent visual impact is over, the balloons don’t disappear.  Between 80 – 95% of released balloons rise to an altitude of 5 miles where the pressure and temperature is such that they burst into small fragments.  The remaining 5 – 15% don’t make it that high and can float many miles before descending back to the land or sea, semi-inflated.

Balloons can be made of either mylar or latex.  Mylar is a plastic and simply doesn’t biodegrade.  Latex in the natural state is biodegradable but balloons on land can take 6 months to biodegrade and in salt water, 12 months.  During this time, they are a particularly dangerous litter.

On land, balloon fragments can harm wild and domestic animals and livestock.  In the marine environment, sea turtles, birds and other surface-feeding animals can mistake floating balloons for jellyfish and may attempt to eat them.  Balloons can directly cause a slow and miserable death by blocking the digestive tract, eventually leading to starvation.  This has been witnessed and documented by organisations all over the world including the UK DEFRA  and latex balloons have been found in the digestive systems of many species in Irish waters, including some of which are protected by law.  In sea turtles, balloons have in fact been found to reside without digestion or excretion for up to 4 months.

Balloons can cause death indirectly because more than 95% of phytoplankton, the essential building blocks of marine ecosystems, are killed by latex rubber within 4 days.  Moreover, the word “biodegradable” does not identify that in degrading, latex goes through a sticky phase which increases the choking risk if it is ingested.

Birds legs and necks have become wrapped in the strings attached to balloons.  When flippers and fins of sea turtles, seals and dolphins become similarly entrapped, it can cause infection, amputation and death by drowning.

All that aside, a staggering 8% of the world’s helium supply is used for filling party balloons.  Helium is a non-renewable resource which we desperately need for other products we treasure such as MRI scanners, fibre optics and LCD screens.

The UK Marine Conservation Society has found a frightening average of 3 balloons per km of coast surveyed.  Surveys of beach litter in the UK have found that the number of balloons and balloon fragments has tripled in the past 10 years, doubling between 2015 and 2016 alone.

Balloon releases have been banned in several states in the US including California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia.  At least 7 other US cities have similar laws in place.  They have been banned in places in Australia.  34 local authorities in England, 10 in Scotland, 14 in Wales and 4 in Northern Ireland have forbidden balloon releases on public ground.

Environmental organisations all over the world have been asking for a ban on balloon releases for many years.

It is tragic that generally because of a lack of awareness, something that is beautiful, poignant and celebratory should cause so much downstream destruction, suffering and death.  There are other equally wonderful ways in which events can be marked, ways which do not cause downstream environmental harm.

I welcome the sensitive and considered response from the executive.”

I wrote the piece at the link below  in mid-June for the Carrigdhoun newspaper.  At the time, the Mackinnon-led “expert” committee had made their recommendation for a 35km-wide City jurisdiction, stretching from Ballincollig to Carrigtwohill, to include Blarney but to exclude Passage West.  The debate about this issue rumbles on and Mackinnon’s recommendations make no more sense to me now than they did two months ago.

The County Council has since offered areas closest to Cork City to the City Council.  These areas include the Strategic Land Reserve identified by the County for potential residential development.  The extent of the land offered is such that it would increase the City’s area by 85%, allow an immediate population increase of 31.2%, a potential population increase of up to 283,600 and would offer a residential density on a par with that in Dublin City .  Any feedback I have had from constituents on the County’s most recent offer has been positive; they say it makes far more sense to them than the City boundary proposed by Mackinnon.  (Apart from one constituent living in an area close to the City who very much wants no boundary change at all.)

Under Mackinnon’s recommendations, the Cork Harbour area would be split between City and County.  It has recently been suggested that I should be pushing for the entire of Cork Harbour to be included in the expanded City boundary.  I have in fact already written about this (in the article below), but believe that this oneness would best be achieved in the context of a merger of City and County:

19-06-2017 – boundary extension