Department happy ‘procedure’ followed over disputed 999 call

The Department of Communications has said it is satisfied “appropriate procedures” are followed by the 999 emergency call service following fresh criticism of the amount of time people can be waiting to reach an operator.

A former garda said it took him 10 minutes to get through when he called to report an armed robbery in Dublin on Tuesday.

In response, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said he would look into the matter and passed on the concerns to the department which oversees the service, operated by BT Ireland.

The company said its response rate to emergency calls is "one of the best" in Europe and that if experiencing delay callers should hold for an operator rather than hang up.

Concerns with the service were initially raised by management at the Regency Hotel in Dublin earlier this month when a man was shot dead by a criminal gang.

An armed robbery in Castleknock on Tuesday provoked more public complaint. Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Howard Mahony, a Fianna Fáil canvasser for candidate Jack Chambers and former guard who witnessed the incident, said it took 10 minutes to get through.

“What happened was I tried to ring 999 and I was put on hold. I got some sort of a recorded message to tell me that they couldn’t put me through at the moment,” he said.

“Now that’s a nationwide service as you are aware. Therefore I can only assume that anybody who tried to ring 999 at that time nationwide wasn’t able to contact them.”

Varadkar response

Mr Mahony said he was persistent because he had detailed information he wished to pass on to gardaí.

“This is what concerns me, even more than the robbery was the fact that I couldn’t get through; the fact that I was put on hold.”

He criticised Mr Varadkar, who was also canvassing at the time, saying that when he relayed his concerns the Minister “didn’t appear to be overly concerned”.

Speaking on the same programme, Mr Varadkar said he was not concerned at that stage because he was aware somebody else had successfully reported the robbery.

“My concern obviously was that the call had been called in and that the gardaí were on their way and they were on their way and arrived quite promptly,” he said.

Confirming he would look into the matter, his officials later said the issue had been raised with the department which reviewed the calls relating to the armed robbery.

“We are satisfied that the appropriate procedures were followed,” it said.

In incidents where a high number of calls are received, including those which prompted the criticism, callers can be queued and are dealt with in order. Emergency services are dispatched based on the first call, it said.

“The department has received no complaints relating to delays in accessing the service.”

BT Ireland said it has invested more than €10 million into its operation of the Emergency Call Answering Service.

It aims to answer calls in an average of 1.3 seconds but the current average stands at 0.6 seconds.

In both the Castleknock and Regency Hotel incidents, it said, the initial calls were dealt with immediately.

Calls that take longer than three seconds to be answered revert to a recorded message advising people to hold for an operator.