Despite their illegality in the Republic, a number of makeshift outlets, just an hour's drive from Dublin, are still openly selling fireworks. Last week, the Sunday Tribune visited a number of these outlets along the Louth-Down border and at the Armagh-Monaghan border. Just yards inside the North, on the main road between Dundalk and Castleblayney, an old trailer has been converted into a fireworks shop near the Armagh village of Cullaville.

Borderline Fireworks, which is licensed to sell fireworks in the North, openly sells thousands of fireworks and shoppers from the South can buy them and take them into the South without ever encountering a PSNI or Garda checkpoint.

Sky bombs, Volcanic Meltdowns, Platinum Selection Boxes, Desert Storms and Cyborg Attacks are among the array of fireworks on sale, while customers can also buy five smoke bombs for 15.

Operation Tombola was set up by the gardai in 2005 to prevent and detect the organised importation for sale of fireworks. In 2006, there were 42 firework seizures worth 104,000, say gardai.