Emergency services - Government gambling with lives

IT is a cause of very serious concern that Ireland has the second highest rate of fire-related deaths out of 19 countries in the developed world, according to the World Fire Statistics Office.

Compounding that fact is the opinion of senior voices concerned with our fire safety and fire fighting system that the lack of co-ordination and co-operation between the emergency services could actually put the public in danger, and has done so in a number of instances.

Despite the fact that the Government is well aware that people here are more likely to die as a result of a fire than in most other developed countries, it continues to do nothing to radically improve a fire fighting service which is out-dated, under-manned, and comprehensively inadequate to cope with the necessities and demands of a modern country.