A full-time fire service was demanded yesterday for Bray, Co Wicklow, after a young mother and her child died from injuries sustained in a fire at her house.
The fire, which broke out on Sunday morning, left Ms Theresa Cahill (27), of Oldcourt Avenue, and her one-year-old son Christopher critical in hospital.
Both were taken to Loughlins town Hospital but the child was later transferred to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, where he died yesterday morning. His mother died last evening.
The tragedy was the second to hit Oldcourt Avenue, off Boghall Road, in recent years. In a previous fire, directly across from the home destroyed on Sunday, a mother and a number of her children died.
"The whole community is naturally extremely upset. That such a tragedy should occur again is something people are having great difficulty coming to terms with," local TD Ms Liz McManus said.
She said it was ironic that the local authority homes were located across the road from the fire station and the house where the fire occurred was fitted with a smoke alarm.
While gardai are investigating the cause, she said firemen had difficulty reaching Ms Cahill and her son because of a gate which was erected on the stairway. The gate was to prevent her children falling down the stairs.
Ms Cahill and her son were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom. Two other children, aged three and four, and her niece, who was baby-sitting, escaped.
The fire brigade arrived within eight minutes and neighbours who tried to rescue Ms Cahill and her son before their arrival were driven back by smoke.
The local parish priest, Father Tony Deane, last night said the community was extremely upset and trying to come to terms with the tragedy. "It's a very tragic situation. Only for the quick thinking of Ms Cahill's niece, the other children might also have perished," he said.
Standing orders were suspended at a meeting of Wicklow County Council yesterday to discuss the tragedy. Ms McManus called for a full-time fire service for Bray.
She asked for a full report on the fire.