Council plans in place for Christmas emergencies
SOUTH Dublin County Council have outlined emergency plans that will be in place over the Christmas period.
In advance of the council’s offices closing on Friday, December 24, and reopening on Tuesday, January 4, plans have been put into place to deal with emergencies over this time period.
Councillor Charlie O’Connor tabled the question at a recent council meeting, requesting the outline of the plans to inform the public.
In their response, the council confirmed that each service department will have several staff who will be rostered over the Christmas holidays to be on call to deal with emergencies.
They stated: “Each service department defines in advance what calls are deemed an emergency and only these calls are forwarded by the call centre staff to the relevant council staff on call.”
Notices will also be placed on the council website and social media accounts and telephone systems, informing the public that the offices are closed.
Additional information will also be provided regarding the Council’s emergency/out of hour’s service number along with all up to date Council Guidelines concerning Covid-19.
The Council also confirmed that there will be maintenance crews on standby to deal with emergencies over the Christmas and Winter period. From Thursday, December 24 at 1pm to 9am on Tuesday, January 4, there will only be emergency housing maintenance services to tenants.
The council said: “If an emergency should arise during this period, tenants can call the emergency/out of hours number (01) 457 4907. This is for situations where there is serious risk to life or health, imminent threat of the house being flooded by water or sewage, total failure of electricity supply or an electrical fault and/or risk of significant damage to the property.”
Tenants must advise if any member of the household has Covid-19 symptoms or are self-isolating when calling.
The council added: “If the maintenance issue does not fall into the emergency categories, the issue can be reported when full service resumes on January 4, 2022.”
