Minister hesitant on new Bray fire inquiry

TONY KILLEEN, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, said yesterday it would be "very difficult" to set up an independent inquiry into the deaths of two part-time firemen in Bray, Co Wicklow, until three other inquiries had reported.

Even then, he said, he would "need to be convinced" of the deficiencies of the other reports.

Families of the two part-time firemen who died last September called for an independent inquiry at an Oireachtas committee meeting yesterday.

They say the inquiries by the Garda, Wicklow County Council and the Health and Safety Authority were not independent. However, Mr Killeen said there was no question of the HSA inquiry not being independent.

Fianna Fáil Wicklow TD Joe Behan backed the call for an independent inquiry.

Hazel O'Brien, whose boyfriend Mark O'Shaughnessy (25) was one of the two firemen who died, said the families were looking for an independent inquiry, the setting up of a national fire service authority and a full-time service for Bray. She asked why towns of a similar size like Drogheda and Dundalk had a full-time fire service.

Mr Killeen said a national fire authority was still on the agenda. However, he said he did not want to "trumpet it as a cure-all, when it is not". "There are inherent difficulties and issues to deal with," he said, and it was "not click your fingers and deliver a solution".

Loman O'Brien, former station officer with Bray fire service, said the area was "more vulnerable now than ever" and a full-time service was needed urgently as the situation was a "ticking time bomb".

The number of fire fighters had fallen from 13 to eight in the last 25 years and the time it took for the firefighters to get to the station had doubled due to traffic. He said this was despite an almost doubling in population to 35,000, and the very busy N11 further adding to the need for increased capacity.