SIPTU Firefighters and supporters protest outside fire stations across Dublin

dublin | worker & community struggles and protests | press release Monday March 06, 2017 21:44 by siptu

SIPTU Press Release -4th March 2017

SIPTU Firefighters and hundreds of their supporters protested outside fire stations across Dublin today (Saturday, 4th March) to highlight their opposition to an attempt to break up the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) Emergency Medical Service by removing its ambulance call and dispatch function.

Among those who showed their solidarity at one of the 12 fire stations across Dublin was Lord Mayor, Brendan Carr, RTÉ broadcaster, Joe Duffy and former Ireland rugby captain, Brian O’Driscoll. They were joined by several Dublin City Councillors and other public representatives.

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Brendan O’Brien, said: “The protests were initially called by Dublin City Councillor and former Lord Mayor, Christy Burke. Our members would like to thank him for the initiative which allowed local communities across the city and county to show their support for the DFB Emergency Medical Service.

“The protests highlighted the very strong opposition there is to an attempt by senior management in Dublin City Council to break up the DFB Emergency Medical Service by removing its ambulance call and dispatch function. Removal of this function breaks a key link in the DFB Emergency Medical Service chain, which would result in a reduction in the effectiveness of the service, response time delays and expose the public to increased risk.”

SIPTU DFB Firefighters voted by 93% to 7% in favour of strike action and 97% to 3% in favour of industrial action, in a ballot counted on Friday, 17th February. The SIPTU DFB Strike Committee has considered the options available to it and in the coming days will announce its next steps in the campaign to retain the DFB Emergency Medical Service as a fully functioning operation.

SIPTU DFB Firefighters will hold a further rally outside City Hall, Dublin 2, on Monday (6th March) between 5.45 p.m. and 6.45 pm