Mr. Geoff McEvoy:

I will take the first part. The reality is that the proposals put forward thus far are not sufficient. As I said earlier, we need 450 firefighters to be recruited into the service. Each new intake of recruits will bring in 45 new firefighters. The educational process then takes about six months. Therefore, by the time those six months have passed, there will have also been six months of retirements, etc. At the rate we are going with recruitment overall, it will not be possible to catch up with the problem. We are so far behind now that recruitment must be drastically accelerated. In addition, a competition for promotion into officer grades is under way in Dublin Fire Brigade. That is fantastic. A panel will be created for the competition, and good luck to everyone on it. Equally, though, the vacancies created will need to be backfilled with extra firefighters. At the current rate of recruitment we are never even going to catch up with the problem, let alone get ahead of it. Rapidly accelerated recruitment will be required in the next one or two years to get staff levels up to where they need to be.

Regarding the joint emergency medical service provided for in Dublin and the co-operation that exists between the National Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade in that respect, one thing to add is that there are also staff who are retained firefighters who could enhance that service by answering medical calls. The main point to make about the service, however, is that it has been extremely valuable to the people of Dublin. The system's capacity to respond to medical emergencies and serious incidents is beyond comparison. I do not know if the capacity exists around the country to replicate the model, but it is one which has worked wonders and saved lives within Dublin city. It has ensured that a fleet of vehicles is available from the National Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade. Their facilities are already spread around the city. For example, there are 12 full-time fire stations and two part-time, retained, stations in the city.

The capacity to dispatch ambulances, paramedic crews and fire appliances to incidents means it is possible to intervene in the critical life-saving minutes, for example, if there is a cardiac incident. Equally, the capacity exists to deal with a serious incident or a road traffic collision in respect of creating a safe environment in which personnel can operate to bring people safely out of vehicles and transport them to accident and emergency departments, and then to reopen the area. I am not sure that the people of Dublin know or can fully appreciate the true value of all that is achieved by colleagues from different services working holistically together. I refer to the context in this regard of the training which exists within Dublin Fire Brigade. Working in conjunction with the staff of the National Ambulance Service, personnel arriving on the scene can attend to putting out a fire, rescuing people from vehicles, operating the equipment and working as paramedics. I am not sure if similar capacity is available across the country. Perhaps Mr. Kenny can speak to that aspect. I can only speak about what the model has achieved in Dublin. If it could be replicated, the outcomes for people countrywide could only be beneficial.