David Cullinane thanked emergency service workers for the 'invaluable work they do in the face of extreme challenges'

Tributes paid to first responders in Waterford attack

15 Oct 2026, 10:29 · RTE.ie

Tributes have been paid in the Dáil to the work of medical and emergency staff following the death of four people in an arson attack in Waterford.

Kim English, Philip English and their sons, 12-year-old Callum and nine-year-old Jayden, died after an incendiary device set fire to their home in the Birchwood estate on Tuesday morning.

Sinn Féin Health Spokesperson and TD for Waterford David Cullinane thanked them "from the bottom of my heart" given the invaluable work they do in the face of extreme challenges.

Asking a Priority Question to the Minister for Health, Mr Cullinane said that their response to this "unimaginable tragedy" demonstrates that "they are heroes".

He paid particular tribute to the paramedics who attended the scene at Birchwood Estate.

Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill endorsed the Waterford deputy's commendations.

"You've put that so beautifully on behalf of your community," she responded.

"I too want to acknowledge the scale of the tragedy," the minister said, and also mentioned "the people who arrived on the scene first".

"This was a particularly acute tragedy," she said and praised the "exceptional job" the medics and emergency responders did.

The minister agreed with the deputy's praise of the ambulance service, and his observation that it provides an essential service which she said was often "in the most difficult circumstances and they are doing that every day".

"The events in Waterford are the most acute example of that."

Mr Cullinane said he would prefer "to stick with" the subject of the National Ambulance Service in today's questions, rather than the ones he had sumbitted before the tragedy occured, in order to focus on the important work it does.