FIANNA Fáil councillor Bridie Collins relayed a “bad experience” with the Council’s emergency hotline during flooding in Adare when her call was dealt with in the US.
According to Cllr Collins, she rang the emergency number out of hours seeking assistance back in January, but the operator did not know where the picturesque West Limerick village, set to host the 2027 Ryder Cup, was in the world.
“The person that answered the phone was in America and had no idea where Adare was in relation to Limerick. It was really shocking. There was no confidence, I couldn’t really have confidence in that phone call,” the Adare woman told the Council executive at the November’s full local authority meeting.
Cllr Collins called for training for outside sources dealing with emergency issues in County Limerick over the phone so they can point out Adare on a map.
“I was asked on several occasions, ‘is it city based or is it county based?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’ This is just basic and I didn’t have time to explain where Adare is,” she added.
The Adare-Rathkeale representative did sing the praises of Limerick-based Council staff who took her calls locally and followed up without hesitation.
“That gave me huge confidence in the Council. I didn’t have to worry about the emergency call but I have to raise the issue about that call. It was really soul-destroying to have people in need and not to get through to somebody who knew where we were in the world,” she said.
Independent councillor John O’Donoghue supported Cllr Collins’s call for training and, in doing so, showed himself to be a glass half full kind of guy.
“When we do ring this hotline and we do get somebody in America after the Ryder Cup, I think they’ll know exactly where Adare is,” Cllr O’Donoghue enthused.
Council Director General Dr Pat Daly said the local authority does a debrief after each emergency event to look at what was done right and wrong, and where responses could improve.
“I certainly take on board the comments on the phone line. We had a version of that before, I thought we had it fixed, but maybe not. But we do go into intense training and debrief with all our crews. The key is to be better, to always be prepared, and we have to keep doing that,” Dr Daly concluded.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme