THE DUBLIN FIRE Brigade is still waiting on more than half a million in unpaid call-out charges.

Last year fines totaling more than €678,000 were left unpaid.

This included unpaid domestic and commercial call outs. In total, 30.43% of commercial charges remained outstanding, while 52.86% of domestic charges still remain unpaid.

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council emphasised that they expect to recoup a large amount of this money.

It was specified that individuals are frequently able to come to an arrangement with the council, where charges are paid off in installments over a period of time.

Current charges

Call-out charges were introduced in 2012 at a domestic level – with a rate of €500 for attendance at a home fire and €610 for road crashes.

These were proceeded in 2003 by the implementation of call-out charges for commercial properties – with costs varying depending on the circumstances of the fire.

In 2012, the number of those who paid the domestic call-out charge totaled 59.86%. This remained steady in 2013, coming in at 58.86%.

Value to revenue 

Information relating to the charges comes from a question asked at a council meeting last month by councillor Ruairí Mcginley who was querying if there was “possible scope to increase revenue from this source.”

In 2012 there was €233,217 of outstanding fines across domestic and commercial call outs. In 2013 this rose to €348,570.

Since 2012 there has been an overall drop in the number of incidents – falling from 1,342 in 2012 to 1,148 last year. 

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