Hundreds of calls made to Dublin Fire Brigade on New Year’s

Night’s celebrations see 34 assaults, 23 overdoses and 38 falls across capital

Revellers cheer in the New Year at the NYF concert in College Green, Dublin. The Dublin Fire Brigade received 277 ambulance calls over the night.  Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Revellers cheer in the New Year at the NYF concert in College Green, Dublin. The Dublin Fire Brigade received 277 ambulance calls over the night. Photograph: Aidan Crawley

A large number of emergency calls were made across Dublin on New Year's Eve, with Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) reporting 999 calls every 30 seconds during the night.

The fire brigade began tweeting in the early hours of New Year’s Day that ambulance services were exceptionally busy, dealing with emergency calls around Dublin city and county.

Between 6pm on December 31st and 6am on January 1st, the DFB and National Ambulance Service received 277 ambulance calls.

According to the emergency services, there were 34 assaults, 23 overdoses and 38 falls across Dublin while New Year festivities took place through the night.

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The fire brigade tweeted shortly after midnight that the control centre was receiving 999 calls every 30 seconds. A large number of calls came from central Dublin at Harcourt Street, O’ Connell Street and Temple Bar, near where official New Year’s celebrations were taking place in College Green.

The fire and ambulance services attended a fire in Oldtown in Swords at about 2.30am. There were no injuries in the incident. They were also called to an electrical fire in Monkstown and received an emergency fire call from Rathmines.

The emergency services’ Twitter account continued to remind people out celebrating to take extra care with alcohol consumption and to keep an eye out for friends.

“We’re already getting calls for people who have had too much to drink lying on cold wet paths on their own. Missing a friend? Check outside” the fire brigade tweeted shortly before midnight.

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak

Sorcha Pollak is an Irish Times reporter specialising in immigration issues and cohost of the In the News podcast