The Workers’ Party has said that rapid population and town expansion in west Dublin has left numerous areas without an adequate fire service. This is according to Workers’ Party representative in the area David Gardiner. Gardiner is also a serving firefighter in the local area, and is calling for a new fire station to be located south of Lucan.

Gardiner said:
“Since 2006, with the large developments in places like Adamstown and around Lucan, some parts of the Dublin Midwest constituency have seen population growth of up to 50%. This is compared with a national average of just 3%.

“But in spite of this, as usual, there has been almost no expansion in services to meet the growing needs of these new communities. Fire appliances in Tallaght are already used as back-up for parts of Kildare. That is why I am calling for a new fire station to be built, as an urgent priority, in this area.”

The serving firefighter continued:
“Dublin Fire Brigade hasn’t seen proper recruitment of new staff in over a decade. Firefighters and their trade union representatives have constantly highlighted that understaffing and lack of adequate fire appliances has caused stations to be dangerously under-resourced on multiple occasions in recent years.

“But in addition to this, it is my view that large areas of new housing development are now not within “safe” reach of a fire station. Our guidelines indicate that we should be in a position to reach any emergency in our area within 8-10 minutes, in the worst case scenario. But many of the new housing developments fall outside this timeframe, even without factoring in growing traffic in the areas. This is a disaster waiting to happen.”

A fire station was included in the original plans for Adamstown, but never built.

Gardiner also noted the proposed new development at Clonburris:
“The plans for Clonburris strategic development zone estimate up to 9,000 homes will be built in the area. As usual, our government will go looking for a private developer to build and profit from this housing, and as usual, those who move into the area face the possibility of not having any of the services they need.

“The Workers’ Party believes a new fire station should be built with urgency in the south Lucan area, to serve these new communities. And like all infrastructure and facilities, it should be completed before new housing is built. We should not have to wait for a disaster before our government acts.”