Wexford council refuses to issue apology to rescue crews over alleged call to gardaí during flood evacuations

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The chief executive of Wexford County Council (WCC) has refused to apologise to Slaney Search and Rescue after one of its crews was allegedly reported to the guards by a council official.

During the floods which overwhelmed Enniscorthy last week, Slaney Search and Rescue (SSR) carried out a number of evacuations in the town, rescuing, among others, a mother and her new-born child.

However, according to chair of SSR, Shane O’Connor, a member of WCC reported the crew for evacuating people from their homes, before allegedly accosting them in the process.

And at the February meeting of WCC, Councillor Jackser Owens demanded that an apology be issued to an organisation which “should be applauded” for the work they carried out during the floods.

"I want to congratulate SSR for the wonderful work they did,” he said. “A WCC official rang the gardaí to say SSR had overstepped the mark (during their evacuations), that was wrong, there’s four people alive today because of SSR. This organisation has been in operation for 30 years, it’s a voluntary organisation, its crews don’t receive any wages, and the building they have is not fit for purpose.

"They’re a fantastic organisation and should be applauded for their work.”

At this juncture, Cllr Owens proceeded to applaud and was briefly joined by a handful of other councillors in the chamber.

Continuing, the independent councillor said SSR had requested an apology from the council over the alleged incident and called upon chief executive Eddie Taaffe to publicly issue it.

Thereafter, Cllr Owens’ request went unanswered until the very conclusion of the meeting when he once more asked for an apology to be issued.

“I didn’t get an answer, will you look into funding a building for SSR and will you apologise to them?” he asked Mr Taaffe.

“We are happy to work with the SSR on any facilities they might need,” replied Mr Taaffe. “And I have already met with the principle (of SSR) and we will have a further meeting to review everything.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Owens has called into question some of the advice issued by Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran during his visit to some of Enniscorthy’s flooded properties.

“He told a woman that if she cut an onion in half and put it in the rooms she’d get rid of the smell. You wouldn’t see it on The Tom and Jerry Show.”