Council emergency number called 27 times

A PERSON in Kilkishen rang the council’s emergency number 27 times last winter without getting any reply.
At this week’s meeting of Clare County Council, Sixmilebridge-based Councillor PJ Ryan said there was a problem during the last cold snap. “Last year and in the early part of this year, people were calling the emergency number and not getting any reply. A constituent in Kilkishen rang the number 27 times and didn’t get a reply.”
He proposed that the council “ensure that adequate staff are available to man the emergency number for the winter weekends and holiday periods”.
In a written reply to the members, director of services Nora Kaye stated, “The council’s emergency phone operates throughout the year outside office hours – including over weekends and bank holidays. The effectiveness of the facility was compromised during the very severe weather event of December 2010 when temperatures dropped to -12oC and the intensity of calls from members of the general public in relation to water services and road-related issues increased to an unmanageable level.”
She said lessons have been learned and that some new criteria has been agreed to facilitate identification of the need for additional support. However, she said it is important that the public realise when calls should and shouldn’t be made. “Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is important that members of the general public are aware of the extent of the support that the council can give and that they are equally aware of when it is more appropriate that whatever support they need is sought elsewhere. Many of the calls that were directed to the council during the severe weather events of the past two winters should ideally have been directed elsewhere. Such calls tend to clog up whatever call-answering facilities are in place and can compromise the capacity of the council to respond effectively to situations where support can be provided. In this regard, I would encourage people to consult with the document recently published by the Office of Emergency Planning entitled Be Winter Ready and which is accessible on www.winterready.ie.”
She also said the public could get information from the council’s website www.clarecoco.ie.
Councillor Ryan praised the council’s response to the severe weather, while Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes also praised the work of council employees in dealing with the crisis.