999 emergency-call workers threaten to strike

Call-centre workers who answer 999 emergency calls are threatening strike action over wages and working conditions.

A majority of staff based at the Munster Regional Communications Centre, which dispatches fire services for six counties, are expected to be balloted for industrial action in the next week by their union, Siptu. This will go up to, and including, strike action. If strike action goes ahead, it could have consequences for people in need of urgent help in Limerick, Cork, Clare, Tipperary, Kerry, and Waterford.

Some 25,000 calls are handled annually in the Munster centre, which serves 1.2m people. The centre employs 25 people.