Council Briefs: Council considers legal action against HSE over funding for ambulance services, a motion to tackle youth homelessness, and more

To the courts?

At a meeting on 2 December, the CEO of Dublin City Council, Richard Shakespeare, asked councillors to back his plan to seek legal advice over the HSE’s refusal to pay for the Dublin Fire Brigade’s ambulance service.

“I’m seeking your endorsement to engage senior council to explore our options in that case,” said Shakespeare.

If the barrister thinks the council can take legal action, Shakespeare would bring the advice back to councillors for endorsement, he said.

The council and the HSE have been locked in a dispute over funding for the ambulance service, which the council says cost around €28m last year, to which the HSE currently contributes €9m. That leaves a hole of €19m which is covered by the four Dublin councils.

In September 2022,  the council’s position was that the HSE owed it €116.8 million, according to an official response to a councillor’s question.

Dublin Fire Brigade runs an emergency ambulance service, it also sends out fire tenders when no ambulance is available – which happened 3,066 times in 2021 – said the response.

The HSE says it has no contract with the council so it doesn’t owe the council anything.

“There is no Service Level Agreement in place between the HSE and DCC to vary the amount of the contribution made or accede to, agree with or accept any alternative costing model,” said the HSE spokesperson in 2022.

Most councillors backed Shakespeare’s plan to get legal advice. “Unfortunately we have been forced to do this to try to recoup losses,” said Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan.

The council shouldn’t have to take legal action against a public body and this amounted to “deep political negligence”, he said.

Said Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey: “It’s quite disgraceful that one arm of the state has to take another arm of the state to court.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Racheal Batten had asked whether the council could take a legal challenge, said Green Party Councillor Donna Cooney, the Lord Mayor, who was chairing the meeting on Monday.

“This is holding the council up, there are services that are not being delivered on this council,” said Batten at the meeting.

Fianna Fáil councillor Deirdre Heney said that there has been a formal mediation process and that has not yielded results.

The HSE made a “derisory offer” to resolve the dispute, Shakespeare already told councillors at a budget meeting on 25 November. “Needless to say, my second word was ‘off’,” he said.

What was the offer? An HSE spokesperson hasn’t replied to that query. A council spokesperson said that “As there is now potential legal proceedings it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.”

Which signals a big change of position by the council.

At the budget meeting, Shakespeare had said that, “In terms of drastic action, I don’t think it’s open – because we – there is no contract between ourselves and the HSE I don’t think the courts are open to us.”

“The only other drastic action is to remove 14 ambulances from the system in Dublin, that causes all manner of issues in relation to patient safety,” he said.

Housing first for youth

Dublin City Council should implement “Housing First for Youth”, a strategy to tackle youth homelessness, said councillors at Monday’s meeting.

They agreed a motion calling for just that, as a way to stem the flow of young people, including care leavers, into homelessness.

Young adults are overrepresented among the homeless population. A quarter of adults presenting as homeless in Dublin were aged 18 to 24,in December 2021, according to the national youth homelessness strategy.

The council’s housing committee could set up a sub-committee to implement the approach, said Social Democrats Councillor Patricia Roe, who tabled the motion. “We know that some of the most vulnerable people presenting to homeless services are young people exiting care.”

Those who may not have parental or family support shouldn’t have to fend for themselves in the housing market, said Roe.

In Waterford, a youth housing programme is already up and running. It provides young people with accommodation and support including healthcare, training, counselling and financial advice and helps them to move on to independent living, she said.

Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan said that the organisation rolling out the service in Waterford presented to the homelessness sub-committee during the last council term.

Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey asked that the housing committee invite the organisation Empowering People In Care (EPIC) to speak to the homeless committee also.

Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty said that the Dublin Region Homeless Executive is set to roll out a pilot project for supported youth housing by the end of this year, according to a response issued in May by the Minister for Housing, Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O’Brien, to a parliamentary question.

“A number of NGOs have now been identified and it is anticipated that the pilot will launch during 2024,” says the response.

Ultra-Low Emissions Zones

Councillors agreed to a motion tabled by Social Democrats Councillor Cat O’Driscoll, calling on the council to introduce ultra-low emissions zones, based on World Health Organisation Guidelines for air quality.

Cars are the main cause of particulate matter in the air which leads to an estimated 1,300 premature deaths in Ireland every year, according to the Health Surveillance Protection Centre.

O’Driscoll said that the issue is worse in urban areas. She suffers from asthma and cannot go outside on foggy days, she says, when air pollution is exacerbated.

There are some things the council can do, like setting tighter targets for air quality –  while some other actions might need national legislation, said O’Driscoll.

The council transport manager Brendan O’Brien has spoken in favour of low emissions zones. In 2019, he said he was looking into what national legislation might be needed to pursue it.

“Personally I think a low-emissions zone in the centre of the city, removing some of the more polluting vehicles, would be the way to go,” O’Brien said in 2023 during a discussion about congestions charges.

O’Driscoll said she wants the council to measure air quality outside more schools as well as creches and senior citizens’ complexes and to work on strategies based on the results.

“The amount of car idling that goes on outside our schools, we all see it,” she said. “The majority of them are combustible engines putting particulate matter into the air, where young children, with more vulnerable lungs are coming out.”

The council’s Active Travel Section and its Air Quality Monitoring and Noise Control Unit have been doing that this year, according to the December monthly management report.

They have been surveying NO2 levels outside schools, to see how traffic from school drop-offs affects air pollution. Figures show significant drops in NO2 levels while schools are out – including two schools with a fall of almost 50 percent in NO2 levels, the report says.

O’Driscoll said by phone on Tuesday that the city-centre traffic plan has helped to improve air quality in the city centre but more changes are needed in the suburbs.

Many EPA air quality monitors are in parks, she said. “When you look at where we measure air quality it’s often not where the vulnerable lungs are spending most of their time.”

She wants clean-air zones around schools, creches and senior citizens’ complexes, she said.

In some cases changing the traffic lights could help to reduce pollution, she said and the council could also work with schools on information campaigns to stop people running the engine while the car is not in use.