Claims that anti-social behaviour stopped roads being cleared of snow and prevented emergency services gaining access to the estate where a man in south county Dublin died have been rejected by a local authority.
Independent Senator Lynn Ruane who lives in Killinarden had tweeted that anti-social behaviour had resulted in snow ploughs being withdrawn on Saturday.
She said that when an emergency arose on Sunday, ambulance services could not get into Killinarden Park when they were called for a man believed to be in his late 50s, who had been walking in the park.
“I don’t know if he had a heart attack or fell or collapsed.” She said she was told a young man “gave him CPR for about 40 minutes and the ambulance still hadn’t got in at this time”.
Sinn Féin councillor Cathal King also said the South Dublin County Council told him a snow plough crew was pulled out of the area on Saturday because of anti-social behaviour.
But the local authority said on Sunday night the service arrived within 10 minutes of callout, a normal response time
Public order
The council also insisted it did not withdraw a snowploughing crew but merely moved around the corner after a public order incident at a local pub.
A spokesman for South Dublin County Council said, however, that “we spoke to the emergency services and they told us they managed to get in within 10 minutes, which is actually quite normal.
“We had ploughed around the ring road around the estate and that’s how they got in because we’ve been working for the last few days to keep roads clear for emergency services. That’s been our top priority.”
Ms Ruane said, “People are angry that there was a possibility that the roads could have been cleared this morning, could have been more accessible if the service had not been withdrawn” because of anti-social behaviour.
They were “upset that what’s gone on has stopped people being able to access a service that could have helped that man”.
‘Anti-social behaviour’
Cllr King said he had been on to South Dublin County Council to clear the roads to let services in there after the incidents at supermarkets in Jobstown on Friday night on the other side of the N81.
“The snow ploughs came out at 3pm yesterday but they pulled out because of anti-social behaviour,” he said on Sunday.
“I had asked them to go up to Killinarden Heights and they got on to me to say they went up but had to pull out because of antisocial behaviour.”
But the council spokesman said “there was an incident at the Killinarden pub, the bar there, where there were some windows put in. And we didn’t withdraw from there, we just moved around the corner.”
He said there was no connection between the moving of the snowplough and access to Killinarden “because they’re [the emergency services] telling us they got in within 10 minutes”.
Gardaí in Tallaght said they had received no calls about anti-social behaviour in Killinarden.
Dublin Fire Brigade said it could not comment for legal reasons.
