Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will raise an issue about first responders. In Cobh in east Cork, which has a population of approximately 14,000 people there is a retained fire service but there are no first responders. The fire service is trained in first aid and first response. There was a case over Christmas where someone suffered a cardiac arrest. I spoke to members of the fire service. They were frustrated that they were sitting at home. They were well aware that something had happened but they could not go out to assist that person. In Cobh there is a strong community led volunteer base including a proactive Tidy Towns committee and an excellent chamber of commerce that is proactive and engaging. As there is only one road in over one bridge in Belvelly, it is sometimes difficult for the emergency services to access Cobh. I will not even go into the ambulances and so on. The crux of the matter is that this service is free to the individual when it comes to an incident. The frustration of the fire services in east Cork and especially in Cobh - that is the one I am talking about - is that they are trained and no one can give them a definitive answer as to why they cannot respond as first responders in such a vital case on an island.

A report published by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, The Retained Fire Services in Ireland: a Review of Recruitment and Retention and the Future Sustainability of Service Delivery contained a caption I saved on my phone. It gave a list of items that are not charged anyway. The frustration is that while it is technically a free service to the public, there may be a charge to Cork County Council, it also includes a non-exhaustive list of waivers on incidents. I refer to where the report states "a review should be completed for any potential areas of response work that could be undertaken by the retained fire services for other agencies". I am trying to get a response from the Minister of State or some guidance on who I should go to, on behalf of the people of Cobh and east Cork, to say that if we do not have first responders in an area but have a retained fire service, it is wrong that the latter is not permitted to respond. The fire service is trained and capable of responding. It can respond. Why is it not permitted to?

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