Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this motion on Dublin Fire Brigade. I also wish to commend my colleague, Deputy Paul Donnelly, on bringing it forward.

My constituency of Dublin North-West has a large and growing population. It is served by Finglas fire station, which is known as No. 5 station within Dublin Fire Brigade. I cannot but give the highest of praise to all those who serve in Finglas and in the fire services throughout Dublin. I would like to take the opportunity now to thank them for their courage and dedication serving communities in Dublin North-West and across the city. These men and women of the fire service place themselves in danger every day in order to keep us safe and to safeguard our properties. The very least we can do is make sure that they have all the resources they require to do their job and keep them safe. However, in recent months members of the fire service have increasingly raised their concerns over staff shortages, particularly during the run up to Hallowe’en, which is traditionally one of the fire service’s busiest times of the year. It is clear that the fire service is understaffed. Union representatives for the fire services have said that a recruitment drive is urgently needed to offset the critical shortage in staffing.

A number of months ago, a spokesman for the fire service union SIPTU spoke of his understanding that as many as up to four fire trucks were not in service due to a shortage in the staff numbers needed to operate them. This disturbing situation puts lives and property and risk. Measures should be put in place to ensure that this never happens again. The very least that can be done immediately would be an increase in the minimum number of firefighters. There should also be a recruitment drive that will take into account the number of vacancies left by retirement from the service. A great number of members of the service are retiring this year because many of them were obliged to delay their retirement due to Covid-19. While the fire service is under-resourced and understaffed, all our lives and the lives of the members of the staff of the service are put at risk. It is welcomed that the Government is not opposing this motion, but actions speak louder than words.

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