Clondalkin’s population of almost 50k needs dedicated First Responders unit

Plans are getting underway to establish a volunteer first responders unit to service the Clondalkin area.

Local resident Mary Conlan was the organiser behind an information night held on last Tuesday evening, July 15, and is behind the push to see the area get its own unit.

Community First Responders (CFR) are volunteers who are trained to attend certain types of emergency calls in the area where they live or work.

With a population of over 49,000, Mary says there’s a clear need for Clondalkin to have its own dedicated unit.

“It went really well,” she said about the initial meeting at the Purty Central in Clondalkin village last week.

“We had 20 at the meeting, 19 of them signed up to the WhatsApp group. We’ve had two or three more inquiries since then.”

The next steps include another meeting next Wednesday, July 30, to discuss progression and training, with a representative from the Kill CFR unit invited to provide insights.  While Mary is pleased by the initial interest, she says the unit is still a long way off being ready.

“I mean, there’s a pile of online courses to do, there’s CFR training, we need to get a committee in place, we need to get a bank account set up.

“Then we need to make sure everybody is compliant with the training, and get them all Garda-vetted, so it could take another six months or nine months before this thing is live”.

“It’s a great start though, we got great support from Cllrs Francis Timmons and Eoin Ó Broin, the Purty Central were really wonderful and told us, if we ever need to use them again, free of charge, no problem,” she added.

The next public meeting about the Community First Responders unit will be held at 7.30pm on Wednesday, July 30, in the Orchard Lodge Meeting Centre in Clondalkin.