Mr. Phelim Quinn:

Members raised a number of other issues. One issue raised was the relationship and ongoing communication between the National Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade. During the course of this review we evidenced that an ongoing difficult or fraught relationship appears to have existed between the two services. The two services appear to operate in specific silos. In some instances that is evidenced even in the relationship within the control centre which is a shared building. We have specifically recommended that their relationship needs to be worked on as a matter of urgency. Recommendations Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, stipulate a need for a jointly created action plan to force co-operation and joint communication by the two services. That element is key for us.

We have also conducted a major programme on the ambulance control centre's reconfiguration. We have evidenced a lack of co-working with Dublin Fire Brigade for this major project. Recommendation No. 4 is based on the involvement of Dublin Fire Brigade in the national call centre reconfiguration programme which is essential to iron out operational inefficiencies moving forward. As I have heard Ms Dunnion mention on a number of occasions, unless we address some of the operational inefficiencies before the move to the singular call centre model, all we will do is carry them from the old model to the new one. Therefore, we have asked for the involvement of Dublin Fire Brigade in that respect.

We have covered the issues of general workforce development and planning. Deputy Ó Caoláin mentioned our recommendations for Dublin Fire Brigade to move forward. We have definitely not made any specific recommendations to discontinue the service being provided by Dublin Fire Brigade. We believe it provides a very safe and effective service but there are challenges in its system and we commend our recommendations to it to address some of them.

We are also conscious of the fact that there are two further reviews into the ambulance services or the pre-hospital emergency care services taking place in Ireland. One is a capacity review that we believe will be reported upon before the end of this year. The other review specifically deals with Dublin Fire Brigade. It was commissioned by Dublin City Council and we believe it will be published in February 2015.

We were again asked about community engagement and first responder schemes. Some of that may relate to the issues the Deputy has experienced personally. Ms Dunnion will take the committee through the first responder schemes and the relationship with the seven minute 59 seconds target.