Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This day 22 years ago my grandmother died, unfortunately. We all miss her greatly. When she was sick she was taken to hospital in a Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance. That is the experience of my family: the care we got, the compassion with which we were treated, the speed, efficiency and all-round decency of the men and women who turned up. That is the experience of thousands of Dubliners. The Minister knows this and is proud of the Dublin Fire Brigade, as I am. It is an important service, not just for who its members are and what they do, but for what they represent to the people of Dublin. It is a highly trained service. Its members are trained paramedics and firefighters but they are not well resourced. They are enthusiastic and willing and they put themselves in danger. They are capable and highly trained and we are all proud of them but we do not have enough firefighters for the city and county.

The Minister and I represent a constituency with a rapidly growing population, which is welcome. It is great to see so many young people across north County Dublin but we need a fire service that is fit for today and future-proofed to take account of the growing population and the growing number of housing developments. These developments are going upwards in many cases, rather than outwards, and that requires specialised equipment. We need a fire service to service the capital city and county that is fit for purpose and future-proofed.

The purpose of this motion is to show our support and that of the Oireachtas for the men and women of the Dublin Fire Brigade.

We need to acknowledge that there is a reason they balloted for industrial action They did not do that without reason. These are people who take their job extremely seriously. I know this because I worked as a union official for a long time and I worked with Dublin Fire Brigade on many occasions. Its members do not want to be in the business of talking to politicians or union officials; they want to get on with doing the work for which they are highly trained and competent and well capable of doing. When they have to ballot for industrial action, step out of their comfort zone and their area of work and into industrial relations and health and safety legislation, that should set off alarm bells in the Minister's office and across the city and county. We have an opportunity this evening to speak as an Oireachtas with one voice and to say to the men and women of the Dublin Fire Brigade that we hear their concerns, we understand them and that the resources they need will be provided.

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