Dublin city manager Owen Keegan has rejected a motion passed by Dublin City councillors to suspend a planned review into ambulance services provided by Dublin Fire Brigade. The motion, which was put forward by the Labour group earlier this week, calls for the review to be suspended until a national HSE review is completed.

Dublin’s emergency ambulance service is operated by the fire brigade, under Dublin City Council, while ambulances are operated by the national ambulance service under the HSE. Dublin Fire Brigade responds to 40% of emergency ambulance calls nationally. The HSE pays the council around €9 million a year to provide the service, from a national budget of €134 million.

Labour councillor Brian McDowell accused Mr Keegan of seeking to undermine the work of Dublin Fire Brigade, which he described as “first class.” He said that the city manager was looking to “bring private operators into the service.”

Mr Keegan announced the review of the Dublin service just two days after the HSE announced its national review. Two external consultants have been appointed to conduct the review at a rate of €600 each per day.

IMPACT official Phil McFadden was part of a trade union delegation that attended the council meeting. He said the Dublin review made no sense in the context of the national review already underway. “This is essentially doubling up on the expense of reviewing the service, and the city manager is pursuing this despite a democratic decision by the council. It raises a lot of questions about the real objectives for this review.

“The Dublin ambulance service operates on less than 10% of the national service budget, yet responds to 40% of ambulance calls nationally. That demonstrates outstanding efficiency for a service delivered by dedicated men and women who do an excellent job. The city cannot afford to have that excellence undermined,” he said.