BT Wins Contract To Operate Ireland's '911' System

The contract, awarded following a public procurement process, will see BT Ireland operate the service for the next five years.

With a €10m investment, one hundred new jobs will be created in call centres at three locations around the country in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, Navan, Co. Meath and East Point Business Park in Dublin.

"Each year in Ireland, around five million emergency calls are made. Such a volume of calls requires the best possible call answering service. The people of Ireland must be confident that, in an emergency situation, their communication is being handled quickly and effectively," said Minister Ryan.

"I am confident that, using the latest advances in technology, the new provider will completely modernise the way this service operates and improve it beyond measure."

Changes that will occur include:

Automatic location-identification - a person in an emergency situation who is unable to state their location for any reason will be located automatically using GPS technology. The information will not have to be requested from mobile phone operators.

"We were able to draw on all our experience from operating similar service in the UK and Northern Ireland, to match the service design and operational criteria set out by the Department in the tender specification," said Chris Clark, CEO of BT. "We are very proud to have been selected for such an important service. It is further evidence of how much value our customers place on BT's global expertise and financial stability."

Minister Ryan acknowledged the excellent work of the Gardaí, Ambulance, Fire and Coastguard services, and pointed out that fast and efficient call-processing is crucial to the overall operation of the emergency services.

He also thanked previous service provider, Eircom, and said, "While our emergency call answering service has been operating very reliably for the last number of years, there are a number of changes that can, and must be made. New technology must be applied in the operation of this critical service.

We cannot afford to lag in this area and I have every confidence that BT Ireland will deliver the most effective service for the years to come."