Dublin Fire Brigade resources were operating with ‘one hand tied behind its back’ in its response to the major civic disturbance in Coolock in Dublin on Monday according to SIPTU representatives.
SIPTU Organiser, Geoff McEvoy, said: “Staff shortages have been an ongoing problem for years in Dublin Fire Brigade and while recent recruitment has eased the problem somewhat, it is still resulting in fire trucks and special appliances being unavailable for service.
During the scenes of civic unrest in Coolock, there were seven resources ‘off the run’, that was four fire trucks, two special appliances and one District Officer. This is solely down to under-recruitment and under-resourcing.”
He added: “Dublin City Council has agreed to attend the Workplace Relations Commission to agree on a revised staffing level and that engagement cannot come soon enough. However, amazingly in this context, the Public Appointment Service has apparently told Dublin City Council that they are not in a position to run a recruitment campaign for the Fire Brigade. This is a shocking and baffling admission and one we believe the Government should address as a matter of urgency.”
SIPTU Dublin Fire Brigade Convenor, Luke McCann, said: “It’s not just about having resources to respond to incidents like this, but when you have trucks ‘off the run’, other trucks have to respond from further afield. That leaves a large part of the city dangerously exposed should there be another incident. We are trying to protect the city with one hand tied behind our back.”