Firefighters who are members of Siptu have voted for strike action action over proposed reforms to the emergency medical service operated by the Dublin Fire Brigade.

Siptu said Dublin City Council planned to to break up the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) emergency medical service by outsourcing its ambulance call and dispatch function.

The firefighters who are members of Siptu voted by 93 per cent to 7 percent in favour of strike action and 97 per cent to 3 percent in favour of industrial action, in a ballot counted on Friday.

Siptu sector organiser, Brendan O’Brien, said: “Our members have given an emphatic mandate to the Siptu/Dublin Fire Brigade strike committee to take whatever industrial measures are required to resist the attempts to break-up the emergency medical service.”

Siptu public administration and community division organiser John King argued that the plans by Dublin City Council to seek the out-sourcing of the ambulance call and dispatch function of the Dublin Fire Brigade emergency medical service “would compromise the safety of our members, who deliver this critical lifesaving service, as well as expose the public to increased risk.”

“In the coming days, the Siptu/Dublin Fire Brigade strike committee will consider the options available to it and decide upon the next steps in our campaign to retain the Dublin Fire Brigade emergency medical service as a fully functioning operation capable of delivering the best service possible to the residents of Dublin.”

He said Siptu representatives remained available for meaningful engagement with the the senior management of Dublin City Council “if it is genuinely interested in finding an acceptable resolution to this long running dispute.”