Consultations on fireworks start Wednesday

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Public consultation on fireworks reform will begin today. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi told Guardian Media, “We will be dispatching material to multiple stakeholders and on our (social media) pages, we will then invite submissions on proposals and will then set meetings.”

Those meetings the Attorney General confirmed will be done via a virtual platform. Al-Rawi said he thought the ‘Zoom’ platform works well and is also the “fastest way to get public engagement.”

Al-Rawi said the material that will be made available for public consideration today will be the Government’s draft legislative proposal. He confirmed that the Cabinet has already discussed its contents but given that the use of fireworks is a polarizing topic in this country, asked that it now come to the public for discussion.

Al-Rawi said laws governing fireworks use is in dire need of updating as they are very antiquated.

Speaking previously to Guardian Media on the proposed legislation, he said, “this is part of a larger package, remember we passed the Animal Welfare legislation which touched on the use of fireworks already, what we are doing now is harmonizing this, we don’t think it is beneficial for the police to run around and charge people one by one.”

Among other things the Attorney General said the legislation aims to restrict the use of fireworks in certain areas taking into consideration if there are nearby hospitals, homes for the aged or a zoo. The legislation will also seek to limit the use of fireworks to certain days and at specified times.

This comes after a New Year’s Day tragedy in Quarry Street, Port-of-Spain where 25 people were left homeless after a fire allegedly started by a sky lantern burnt down four homes. A day later the Attorney General responded to a tweet on Twitter asking if the Government will consider banning loud fireworks by Independence Day. The tweet went on to say that Old Year’s Night was rough on pets and pet owners. Al-Rawi responded publicly saying “I spent my New Year’s night making sure my dog survived the night. I’ve already drafted a bill which cabinet has approved for public consultation.”

Asked at that time if in fact this year’s Independence Day will see the draft Bill become law, Al-Rawi said if there is an appetite for the law then it will be a matter of immediacy.

Questioned about the timing of Government’s intervention, Al-Rawi said the legislation was in the works for quite some time, “at the Office of the Attorney General we took a look at this via the Law Reform Commission, we did a policy paper and a draft law based on Joint Select Committee work then we developed a policy paper and bill that went to Cabinet in December 2021.”