Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a bit perturbing to hear that the first the Tánaiste heard about this was in the media. That is upsetting. I have met with a few of the families of the people who are working in the fire station there in the Curragh. Since I joined the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, I am really struck by the great sense of duty of the people who come in to talk to us, members of the Defence Forces. We had the Secretary General in last week and she was talking about the importance of retaining personnel with specific capabilities. That is exactly what these people are. I was talking to the wife of one of them recently. The Tánaiste might recall that there was a very bad fire in McDonald's in Newbridge about two months ago. There was also an accident on the road at the Curragh. The car overturned and a young woman would have been waiting two hours for help were it not for the local fire station. They are always available to the community as well when the Newbridge fire station is otherwise occupied.

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