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

I welcome the firefighters in the Gallery and thank them for bringing this to the Dáil. They are the courageous men and women who put their lives on the line for us daily and we owe them a debt of gratitude. Fire services face huge challenges when it comes to keeping their firefighters ready for the dangerous tasks they face each day, in their response times and in ensuring they can keep communities safe.

It is clear there is a developing crisis in the fire service, however, particularly with regard to retention. In a report to be completed by the end of the year by a project team under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage into recruitment and retention issues within the retained fire services, some of its conclusion showed that 74% of retained fire services have difficulty in recruiting firefighters while a further 45% have difficulty in retaining firefighters. Staff shortages meant that up to four trucks were not in service because the fire service did not have the staff to operate them.

This is a very serious matter with huge implications not just for the safety of the firefighters, but also for their ability to carry out the tasks assigned to them in a safe and professional manner. If a fire station does not have a sufficient number of firefighters then it does not have the ability to carry out all its necessary functions such as being adequately able to put out a fire at a premises, carry out search and rescue, ensure proper ventilation and water supply and ensure rapid intervention, all of which require a big team. This should be a minimum standard, particularly in a constituency like Dublin North-West, which is populated with large housing estates, high-rise apartment blocks and big hotels.

Retained firefighters face even bigger challenges and uncertainty on a daily basis. Retention and adequate budgets impact on the operation of the fire service including training, proper equipment and maintenance of the services. It also impacts on firefighter safety concerns. The safety of firefighters is a critical concern for all of us. They have a dangerous and stressful job. They risk long-term health issues by being exposed to smoke that may contain carcinogens. For our part, it is our responsibility as public representatives to keep our firefighters safe and free from all the problems they are facing. While the fire service is under-resourced and understaffed, all our lives and the lives of the members of the fire service are put at risk.

Last Friday, I spent more than two hours at the scene of an accident. It took that long to get the fire ambulance and ambulance services to the scene. The problem was that ambulances and fire ambulances were parked outside the hospital acting like a ward because they could not get people inside. The hospital was overcrowded and they could not move people inside. That needs to be looked at very seriously.

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