Delegates from Ireland’s emergency services, health and safety, government and public service agencies met in Dublin recently at the second annual Agency Day, hosted at Croke Park by TETRA Ireland, operator of the republic’s integrated national public safety radio network.

Since the inaugural event last year, TETRA Ireland has completed the rollout of the National Digital Radio Service (NDRS) which provides mission-critical agencies with a secure, safe and resilient service with unrivalled radio coverage nationwide.

Agencies already operational on the TETRA network include An Garda Síochána (police), the Irish Prison Service, Irish Revenue Commissioners and the National Emergency Office. Over 14?000 users are active and many more will soon join them. TETRA Ireland has been working closely with the Irish Fire Services and other public service agencies to connect them to the NDRS network in the near future.

Speaking at the meeting, Pat Kelly, TETRA Ireland’s chief executive, said, “Today’s event has brought together current users of the network with those who are interested in joining the NDRS to share experiences and learn more about how it can benefit their own individual requirements. For many, it has been an invaluable opportunity for all our emergency and public service agencies to meet and discuss communications needs and the improvements the NDRS can make to their day-to-day communications needs.”

Other speakers at the event included Inspector Michael McDonnell, of An Garda Síochána, who described a very positive ‘go live’ experience. Following a comprehensive coverage testing and training process, 3000 Dublin Gardaí migrated in unison from their old analogue system to the NDRS, and the new system has been greeted enthusiastically by users.

Learning lessons

TETRA Ireland also invited guest speakers from abroad to share their TETRA experiences. Nick Koiza, of the Finnish technology developer Portalify, spoke of the powerful data capabilities the NDRS offers, from sending status messages to the transmission of images – for example, of a lost child during a search operation. And Sietse Hitman, of the Dutch police service, described his organization’s experience in dealing with the 2009 Schiphol airport crash disaster and how TETRA was not used to full advantage. Lessons drawn from that incident have led to better multi-agency communications with better training, organized agency control and improved fleetmapping, he said.

Further case studies were presented by TETRA Ireland’s suppliers. Bjørn Rasmussen and Graham Florence of Motorola described their company’s involvement in Denmark’s SINE rollout and its National Fire Service, demonstrating the improved communications capability it now enjoys. And Sepura provided an insight into ambulance communications in the UK.

Pat Kelly commented: “The excellent feedback received by all the agencies is testament to the capability of the NDRS, the resilience of its coverage and the total security it offers. We now look forward to working with new agencies here today to bring the service to a wider audience of users.”