Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the members of Dublin Fire Brigade who are in the Public Gallery and thank them and all of their colleagues throughout the country for the excellent work they do to protect people and property. They attend accidents on our roads and many times they encounter horrendous situations, including in our cities and on our motorways, where lives are lost. The DFB does excellent work. Why we do not leave them alone to continue doing so? When I hear the words "reconfiguration of services", I know that means a reduction in services. We have found that to be the case in Kerry, whereby a so-called reconfiguration of the ambulance service was simply a reduction. In many instances now, it can be an hour or more before an ambulance arrives in parts of Kerry because the service is stretched to the limit. A Tralee-based ambulance that comes out of Cork University Hospital has to press a button to report availability for work and can end up in Kinsale or Kanturk rather than back in Tralee. When that happens, Kerry is left without an ambulance.

I thank the ambulance workers for the great work they are doing. I also thank the members of the fire service in Kerry in places like Sneem, Kenmare, Killarney, Tralee and Listowel. They do great work protecting people when fires break out. I saw them at work on the night a local pub was burned down and they did everything they could to save as much property as possible. They do everything really. They do their level best and while they might not really put their lives in danger, they have a tough time. When they are called out, they have to get on the road within minutes. Everything depends on them doing that. We depend on them so much.

I ask the Government to leave Dublin Fire Brigade alone and let it continue to do the work it has been doing for the past 50 or 60 years.

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