Minutes:
The following Emergency Motions were taken without debate:
Emergency Motion No. 1:
That Dublin City Council expresses its sincere sympathies to the family of the boy who was tragically killed in the North Inner City last week, and calls on the Gardaí to take urgent action to deal with the alarming increase of knife crime in Dublin, particularly in the North Inner City.
Submitted by Councillors Joe Costello, Declan Meenagh, Dermot Lacey, Mary Freehill, Kevin Donoghue, Jane Horgan Jones, Alison Gilliland, Darragh Moriarty, Christy Burke
Emergency Motion No. 2:
Dublin City Council expresses deep concern at the recent increase in knife crime in the north inner city. We express heartfelt sympathy to all those who have suffered from knife crime in our community, but particularly to the family and friends of 16-year-old the boy who tragically lost his life on Thursday night. The causes and consequences of knife crime needs to be tackled using a community based, coordinated, inter agency model. We need to look at international models of best practise and learn from other city’s experiences.
Dublin City Council calls on the Lord Mayor to organise a meeting as soon as possible with the Minister for Justice, the Garda Commissioner and all other relevant stake holders to agree an action plan that will reduce knife crime in this city.
Submitted by Councillors Janice Boylan. Máire Devine, Daithí Doolan, Larry O'Toole, Séamas McGrattan, Christy Burke, Anthony Connaghan, Daniel Céitinn, Micheál MacDonncha.
Emergency Motion No. 3:
That members of Dublin City Council call on the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, to immediately facilitate the reintroduction of Deputy Jim O'Callaghan's private members bill, namely the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2019, the purpose of which is to amend Section 9 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990, which would increase the maximum sentence that can be imposed for the possession of a knife to cause injury to, incapacitate or intimidate any person from five to ten years.
Furthermore, in light of recent knife related incidents on the streets of Dublin, the members, in acknowledging that the foregoing legislative change can only be a part of the solution to knife carrying and knife crime, also call on the Minister to immediately set up a task force to address, research and analyse the causes of the increase in knife crime, examine its impact and, most importantly, make recommendations as to how it can be eliminated from our society as far as possible.
The members request that the task force should comprise all stakeholder including, but not restricted to, An Garda Síochána, political, community, drug agencies, victim support groups, legal advisors and education representatives.
Possible solutions/recommendations/proposals to be should include, but not be confined to, increasing Garda resources needed to tackle this specific issue, funding knife awareness through education programmes, acknowledging and addressing the link between knife carrying/use and drug use/intimidation as well as addressing victim impact.
The task force should, on setup, detail the timescale and way in which any and all its solutions/recommendations/proposals can be speedily implemented.
Submitted by Councillors Niall Ring, Cieran Perry, Christy Burke, Anthony Flynn
Emergency Motion No. 4:
That Dublin City Council extends its condolences to the family and friends of the boy who lost his life last week on the streets of our capital city.
In extending our condolences, this Council also highlights our concern and growing anxiousness about the increasing number of knife related crimes across our city. The last fortnight has seen attacks on persons with the use of knives in the IFSC, Seville Place and O’Connell Street to name but a few.
This Council calls upon An Garda Síochána to put in place a targeted operation city-wide in order to counteract this problem and to help seize illegally owned knives and other dangerous weapons. By putting in place such an operation, communities across this city can be reassured that this situation is being addressed by the Gardaí and that steps are being taken to tackle and ultimately knife crime.
This Council further resolves that the Government publish the Youth Justice Strategy as committed to in the Programme for Government. Implementing such a strategy in parallel to a strengthened police operation targeting knife crime will ensure that the State has in place a holistic approach to targeting knife crime."
Submitted by Councillors Colm O’Rourke, Ray McAdam, Christy Burke
Emergency Motion No. 5:
Dublin City Council is deeply concerned to learn that the vaccination of Dublin Fire Brigade personnel was discontinue dafter 2 days. This puts essential frontline staff at grave risk. It runs counter to the agreed Government policy, Sequencing of COVID-19 Vaccination of Frontline Healthcare Workers, where DFB personnel would receive the vaccination under tier 1b. Yet many categories below 1B have been vaccinated.
As of the 29th of January 2021 123 DFB personnel have tested positive for covid19. 20 personnel are currently restricted from duty as a result and there are 70 personnel currently restricted from work on associated special covid19 leave.
While acknowledging the low supply of vaccines coming into the country, Dublin Fire Brigade are unique, as they are the only fire service to also have an Ambulance/Paramedic service in the whole of Ireland and the UK.
Dublin City Council agrees that the Lord Mayor contacts the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the HSE, demanding that they work together to arrange for the vaccination of Dublin Fire Brigade Paramedics as a matter of urgency
Submitted by Councillors Daithí Doolan, Keith Connolly, Deirdre Heney, Daithí De Róiste, Micheal Watters, Briege MacOscar, Eimer McCormack, Daryl Barron, Deirdre Conroy, Racheal Batten, Claire O'Connor, Tom Brabazon, Christy Burke, Anthony Flynn. Séamas McGrattan, Micheál MacDonncha, Larry O’Toole, Janice Boylan, Daniel Céitinn, Máire Devine, Anthony Connaghan.
Emergency Motion No. 6:
Dublin City Council recognises the absolutely essential frontline fire and pre-hospital emergency medical services carried out by Dublin Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service across our city and wider Dublin region, particularly in current health circumstances. Dublin City Council also recognises the ongoing impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic is having the ability of DFB to ensure that all watches are fully staffed - cancelled leave, cancelled training, fire fighters coming in off shift on overtime to cover for colleagues either suffering from COVID-19 or isolated because of close contact to a case.
Dublin City Council raises concerns regarding the safety implications to DFB personnel and, in the case of an incident arising in the course of their work, the potential use of Section 80 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act (2005) against an individual Officer for taking a decision that may deviate from normal good fire management practice as a result of insufficient manning levels at a fire.
The agreed operational manning levels in the Dublin Fire Brigade is 963, however when training, leave, sick, projects, COVID-19 etc. are taken into account; this number falls way short on a daily basis leaving the DFB to heavily rely on overtime to provide the service to the citizens of the city.
Therefore, to address these urgent situations, Dublin City Council calls for the immediate operationalising of a 2021 training class with a further class back to back to ensure the operational function of the DFB. Given the 7/8 month training period required, taking this step now will allow DFB and DCC to take advantage of a relatively new panel and take advantage of the 2020 training programme remodelled to accommodate Covid19 circumstances. Doing so will not only ensure an appropriate supply of firefighters to address the knock on impact of current gaps in manning levels and the replacement of all 2021 retirements but will also send out a much needed signal to DFB staff that their concerns are being addressed.
Submitted by Councillors Alison Gilliland, Mary Freehill, Declan Meenagh, Joe Costello, Kevin Donoghue.