Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues, Deputy Lahart, our Dublin spokesperson, and Deputies Daragh O'Brien and Haughey for tabling the motion, which involved a lot of work on their part. I welcome all of the Dublin Fire Brigade workers who are in the Gallery and I thank all of the people who were outside the Dáil earlier who spoke to us. Unfortunately, I did not see any Government representatives there today but I know that the front-line workers would have liked to engage with members of Fine Gael and with Independent members of Government. I met many members of the fire brigade last weekend at Huntstown Community Centre. They brought with them the true spirit of DFB. They were out in the community, teaching and engaging with children and providing a community service. That might not be valued under the HSE's key performance indicator index or the various outputs of the Department of Health but we must value DFB as a community service first and foremost, which is not recognised.

Last year, I visited Blanchardstown fire station which covers a wide area, including Dublin west and beyond. I spoke with workers there who are disillusioned with this Government's offer of what can only be described as qualified support. I read the speech delivered by the Minister of State. While the Government accepts the motion, it is only doing so on a qualified basis. Why does the Government not offer full support to the workers in Dublin Fire Brigade? It would have been worthwhile for members of Government to have met the men and women of the fire brigade and heard what they have to say on this important matter. They understand the issues at play much better than the Minister of State or anyone in the Department of Health. This is important because we are talking about life and death and people in an incredibly vulnerable situation getting the necessary care in an emergency. It is as stark as that.

I firmly believe in the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Regrettably, there are plenty of things broken in Ireland today. We have a housing and homelessness crisis, with more than 3,000 children homeless, and we do not have many solutions from Government. No one can claim the health service is operating well and that the HSE is fit for purpose to deliver healthcare. However, it wants to absorb a service that is working well and is not broken. We have chaos in the Department of Justice and Equality, teachers who cannot pay their rent and a massive haemorrhaging of personnel in the Defence Forces. The Government is again not fixing something that is broken. The elderly are struggling to get by on a week-to-week basis because their pensions are being raided. These issues require fixing now. These are the issues upon which the Government should focus on rather than only offering qualified support to the workers in DFB.

Dublin Fire Brigade provides an exemplary, world class ambulance service which saves lives on a daily basis and has done so for more than 100 years. The men and women of the fire brigade know what they are doing. They provide a stellar service 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. They operate such a good model that other countries have tried to replicate it. A person who has a heart attack in Dublin is more likely to survive than in most other cities in the world. This is precisely because our firefighters are all trained paramedics. Reports have found that we rank second in the world in terms of recovery from heart attacks. Only Seattle performed better and that city studied the Dublin model when designing its own system. This is one of the few areas in which we are a world leader and the Government should not try to undo that by allowing the service to be absorbed into the HSE. Our current model combining fire, rescue and emergency services is internationally recognised as best practice because it works. This model keeps people alive and it is the difference between life and death.

I have received a massive volume of calls and emails from members of DFB and from worried members of the public. Much of their concern stems from the dearth of information about what is being planned. A commitment was given and the Taoiseach himself stated previously that any changes to the ambulance services provided by DFB would only be considered after lengthy engagement but this has not happened. Fianna Fáil and the public want to improve the capabilities of fire brigade to make it even better than it is now, not to remove or absorb it. Year on year, as the population grows, calls have increased for additional recruitment but staffing levels are not keeping pace with demand. This means we are heading towards a major problem unless we recruit more workers and empower and resource fire brigade. It is tragic that this continues across many aspects of our front-line health services.

A technical solution can be found, despite the qualified support from the Minister of State earlier. According to the men and women of DFB, increased co-ordination between Tallaght and Townsend Street will transform the service. A comprehensive co-ordination programme, resulting in accidents and emergencies being responded to as quickly as possible, would only cost between €10,000 and €20,000 and should be supported by this Government.

See this speech in context