Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the members of Dublin Fire Brigade who are here with us this evening in the Gallery and I welcome the many that I met earlier today. It has been a pleasure for me over the last four or five years to work with both current and retired members of Dublin Fire Brigade. My colleagues have covered in detail a lot of the items within our motion. I ask the Minister of State directly that this be the last time that we debate this issue. I have raised this on numerous occasions. We need to make sure that a clear message goes out from the Dáil tomorrow and this evening that Dáil Éireann supports the operation of Dublin Fire Brigade, the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service and the fire-based emergency medical system.

What we have in Dublin is being replicated in other cities across Europe and we have a city manager and people within the HSE tinkering with something that is working. Worse than tinkering, they are starving it in certain instances. My colleague, Deputy John Curran, has dealt with the funding aspects of the matter. We should be further expanding Dublin Fire Brigade's role within the greater Dublin area and looking at how it can be expanded into our other cities across the country, not restricting it. This is not a question of the National Ambulance Service or Dublin Fire Brigade. It never has been and those who seek to sow those divisions are being disingenuous at best. This is about the safety of the citizens of Dublin city and county. No more can we allow the foot dragging from this Government and the last Government. This is the last time this should be addressed. We need to ensure that Dublin Fire Brigade is resourced properly and that a clear statement goes out that there will be no unpicking of its independence and autonomy. We cannot have a system such as has been proposed in the HIQA report. I wrote a detailed letter to the Department of Health on 27 March 2018 highlighting a number of my concerns around the expert report and I use the word "expert" loosely in this regard. That letter has not been responded to yet. Answers given under freedom of information to private citizens contained more information than answers I got by way of parliamentary questions and that is simply not acceptable.

I want to move on in a positive vein in one respect because we want this issue resolved. I welcome the fact that the Government will not only not be opposing this Fianna Fáil motion but it will be supporting it. The Minister of State might confirm that in her response. If that is the case that is a significant step forward. I spoke with the Minister, Deputy Harris, this evening and I suggested to him that after the planning of this motion I would sit down with him to work on the next steps forward. Our colleagues in Dublin Fire Brigade want to know what will happen next. A motion and debate in the Dáil and ventilation of the issues are good and well but the Fianna Fáil Party and I want to see a roadmap forward to investing in Dublin Fire Brigade. At the moment there should be 133 firefighters and paramedics and 36 officers on duty at all times maintaining front-line fire appliances. However, there were only 129 and 29 officers due to start work last night. There is a deficit in staff and appliances. We need at least another four ambulances within the service and we should be proud of the service that is there. This is a win win for the Government and the Dáil.

We need to send out a clear statement from this House that Mr. Owen Keegan and the executive of DCC do not run our fire service and they do not make policy. The Dáil makes policy and makes decisions on behalf of the people who elect us. Thousands of families in Dublin, including my own, have had experience of being looked after by the members of the DFB. The members of the fire brigade and their families do not deserve to be denigrated, to have funding withdrawn, or to have their service run down. They are immensely committed to their job and they have no down time whatsoever. They look after us 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It behoves Government to look after them now and for the Dáil to speak with one voice to ensure we invest in Dublin Fire Brigade, its staff, crews and paramedics. I hope the Dáil agrees unanimously with the Fianna Fáil motion and early next week moves forward with an implementation plan to ensure this service remains one of the best in Europe and that we further invest in the service.

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