Fingal consider outsourcing fire service to Meath or Louth Fire Service

If this happens, and they pick Meath, the closet fire engine will be around 15-20 mins away from D15, in Dunshaughlin. If that engine is out on a call, the closest will be in Trim, 30-40mins away.

If they pick Louth Fire service, the cloest would be Drogheda, again 40-45 mins away, and if that engine is out on a call, the cloest (full time station) will be Dundalk, around an hour away.

I hope this is not true.

http://www.fingal-independent.ie/news/enquiries-made-into-outsourcing-the-fire-service-3306841.html

Turbulent Bill

This just sounds like kite-flying before the budget. Fingal's population is over 270,000, compared to 185,000 in Meath and 123,000 in Louth (all 2011 census figures) - arguably Fingal should be bidding for Meath/Louth rather than vice versa and use the economies of scale.

I'm guessing that this is just posturing to secure Dublin Fire Brigade's budget, which the some of the Councillors want to cut.

chucknorris

This is not posturing, the motion was submitted by Kieran Dennison, the local D15 FG councillor.

The motion is minor (That just puts it on record that the councillor did some work), but the budget vote is the one to keep your eye on.

Larbre34

It wouldnt be a matter of the engines having to come from Louth or Meath, the stations that already exist in Fingal would continue but would be run by the other County's service. However, Dublin Fire Brigade are the most capable and resourced service in the Country and have advanced recruitment, training and procurement operations - to suggest you could get the same level of service support and resources by linking up with Louth or Meath is a nonsense and a false economy, especially since Fingal has such a necessity for maximum emergency cover due to dense housing in places, many industrial sites and the Airport.

Kieran Dennison has clearly not thought this one through, his time would be better spent looking at the over 1,000 staff in the Council and what theyre doing. A 10% reduction in staff numbers would net them €3 or 4 million a year even after pensions are considered

chucknorris

Larbre34 wrote: »

It wouldnt be a matter of the engines having to come from Louth or Meath, the stations that already exist in Fingal would continue but would be run by the other County's service. However, Dublin Fire Brigade are the most capable and resourced service in the Country and have advanced recruitment, training and procurement operations - to suggest you could get the same level of service support and resources by linking up with Louth or Meath is a nonsense and a false economy, especially since Fingal has such a necessity for maximum emergency cover due to dense housing in places, many industrial sites and the Airport.

Kieran Dennison has clearly not thought this one through, his time would be better spent looking at the over 1,000 staff in the Council and what theyre doing. A 10% reduction in staff numbers would net them €3 or 4 million a year even after pensions are considered

+1

There is quite allot of staff in Fingal who, without trying to be offensive, do very little to justify 50k - 75k per year. Very, very little except exist and turn up.

clunked

chucknorris wrote: »

+1

There is quite allot of staff in Fingal who, without trying to be offensive, do very little to justify 50k - 75k per year. Very, very little except exist and turn up.

And your evidence for that lazy thought is ..............

chucknorris

clunked wrote: »

And your evidence for that lazy thought is ..............

It is not a lazy thought, it is an opinion and it's one I've formed over many years. There are plenty of positions and employees who do excellent work, but there are also employees who have little to do, through no fault of their own but under their employment and with unions etc, they cannot be moved position etc, or let go.

I'm talking here specifically of the lifers who are there quite a long time.

Gaspode

It's a preposterous notion, and the county manager knows it. That sort of crazy idea tends to get thrown out just before budget time to raise hackles and ensure that the council gets the funding it needs for the fire service.

Almost as crazy as the notion that 10% of council staff are sitting on their swiss roll doing nothing all day and collecting 50-75k pa.

chucknorris

Gaspode wrote: »

It's a preposterous notion, and the county manager knows it. That sort of crazy idea tends to get thrown out just before budget time to raise hackles and ensure that the council gets the funding it needs for the fire service.

Almost as crazy as the notion that 10% of council staff are sitting on their swiss roll doing nothing all day and collecting 50-75k pa.

Are you sure it's 10%, as I'm surprised by that figure.

Larbre34

I only said 10% to give an idea of the proportional savings, Id say 25-30% are actually doing next to nothing

In fairness though, you cant slash to a ridiculous level, it happened in the 80s and when the upswing came there was a lack of qualified and experienced people in the right areas of the public service to get the ball rolling quickly with the result that systems and infrastructure played catch up for a long time. The same dynamic would be true in any big organisation, and for the record I dont hold the view that the public service are automatically less efficient or motivated, just enough of a minority are to give a dog a bad name, the rest are people trying to do the same job with less resources like anyone else e.g. the Fire Service!