DUBLIN’S LORD MAYOR rushed to the aid of a fainting fireman today at an event in the Dublin City Library and Archive earlier today.

Oisín Quinn had just finished giving his address at the launch of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award when one of the four Dublin Fire Brigade firefighters acting as flag bearers started to faint.

“Nobody was moving so if there’s any movement it catches your eye and so I saw the third flag bearer initially faint on his feet, like he fell backwards against the wall gently and I could see he was out,” the Dublin Lord Mayor told TheJournal.ie.

Quinn said he saw the fireman begin to fall and it was “a slow motion sort of thing”.

“I got to my feet and dashed over to him and held him up,” he said. “Then two of the other firemen dropped their flags and we opened the firedoor to let some air in.”

The Lord Mayor said the firefigher had already started to come around when he caught him and recovered quickly.

“I think he may have been working a night shift and he said to me afterwards when I asked if he was alright that he actually missed his breakfast,” he said.

Quinn said it was “the first time someone has fainted in my presence in public” and quipped that it may have been due to to “all the hot air in the room since I’d just given a speech”.

Read: Dublin Lord Mayor: “I have a professional disregard for the legal classes”>

Read: Brains behind the bike scheme is Dublin’s new mayor>