West Cork man hit with €2k bill after contacting emergency services about gorse fire near his property

A WEST Cork man said he will fight Cork County Council before paying a €2024 invoice incurred for phoning emergency services to assist with local gorse fires.

David Roche was abroad when the caretaker of his property phoned the local fire brigade to warn of a nearby gorse fire raging through the local community.

The Sheep’s Head local said the call was made out of a civic duty and that firefighters never entered his property.

Nevertheless, he emphasised that the €2,024 invoice left him both shocked and baffled. Mr Roche is calling for the invoice to be written off as an error following a strongly worded letter to Cork County Council. In it he rejected any financial responsibility for interventions made during the recent incident. Mr Roche also made reference to neighbours not faced with invoices despite making the same calls to emergency services.

Mr Roche is one of several West Cork residents to have received similar invoices in recent weeks.

The Southern Star recently reported on Goleen woman Brigit Eder who had an invoice of €2,400 reviewed and subsequently cleared. It is believed she may have been billed by Cork County Council in error.

Meanwhile, David said he fears the stress being experienced by others affected by the issue could undermine community spirit in the area.

“Cork County Council are going the wrong way about promoting community spirit in a very lonely and underpopulated area. This only makes people afraid of behaving in a communal way. What emergency services need to be doing is finding out who started the fires and making them pay for it. 

"This shouldn’t be about prosecuting innocent people and harassing them with outlandish bills for what is essentially their civic duty. This is ridiculous and unwarranted. The invoices are shocking and beyond most people’s ability to pay.”

Mr Roche said he is willing to fight Cork County Council.

“They cannot bill you if you do not enter the property. One cannot be charged for a fire on the commonage. I’m certainly not going down without a fight.”

The West Cork resident isn’t the only one defying the requests for payment.

Leo Bolger, who owns Bally Bia restaurant in Ballydehob, received a bill for a total of €6,116 after the Schull and Bantry Fire Brigades services were called to extinguish gorse fires in the area of Coomfarna, Durrus and Bantry on March 4 of this year. The local business owner had used large shovels to beat out the fire.

David said there may be other people privately struggling with invoices.

“Not everyone is going to be able to fight this,” he said. 

“There are people who will no doubt be intimidated by such an official letter and pay the money.”

He expressed concern that people will refrain from calling emergency services in the event of future gorse fires.

“How are people going to make these calls when they are afraid?” he asked.

The Echo has contacted Cork County Council for comment.