Dublin Fire Brigade has admitted that fire appliances had to be withdrawn from service on Halloween due to staff shortages, despite it being one of the busiest nights of the year for fires and accidents.
Earlier, SIPTU Organiser Brendan O'Brien said that at around 6pm, a shortage of three officers and 16 firefighters resulted in three appliances being withdrawn from service for a period in Dolphin's Barn, Donnybrook and Blanchardstown.
He said that members had also informed him that at 7.30pm, after the overtime list had been exhausted, there was still a shortage of two officers and 11 firefighters.
As a result, one of the appliances in Dolphin's Barn was withdrawn from service for the whole shift.
Mr O'Brien claimed that last night's staff shortages also resulted in several DFB operational appliances being under-crewed, placing both the public and firefighters at increased risk.
He alleged that workers had been thoroughly let down by their own management, who had not yet addressed chronic understaffing in the fire service.
In a statement to RTÉ, Dublin Fire Brigade said that while staffing numbers are currently at agreed levels, "... on a number of occasions including last night the desired operational crewing levels are not achieved".
It said that a negotiated joint union-management staffing arrangement is in place to help ensure full staffing at all times, including supplementing vacancies via non-compulsory overtime.
However, the statement says that occasionally "... full crewing levels may not be achieved because of non-availability of personnel on overtime".
In such cases, agreed processes permit the temporary withdrawal of certain appliances.
The statement continues: "This action while infrequent is regrettable and is managed to reduce the impact to a minimum."
It is understood that a talks process at the Workplace Relations Commission on appropriate staffing levels is due to get under way shortly, while a class of new recruits is currently undergoing training and will soon be available to supplement existing operational crew.
DFB has also stressed that it did not issue misleading information about the availability of services last night, and is investigating the source of media reports indicating that the full fleet of 21 appliances and 137 firefighters was operational last night.
