Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's chief fire officer resigns after just six months

Peter O'Reilly was appointed by the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) as their new chief officer last year. Picture by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA Wire
Peter O'Reilly was appointed by the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) as their new chief officer last year. Picture by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA Wire Peter O'Reilly was appointed by the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) as their new chief officer last year. Picture by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA Wire

NORTHERN Ireland's chief fire and rescue officer has resigned just six months after his high profile appointment.

Peter O'Reilly is understood to have decided to walk way from the leading role at the end of last week.

The senior firefighter, who was the chief fire officer in Greater Manchester at the time of the 2017 bombing at an Ariana Grande concert, only took over the post with the NIFRS in September.

But it is believed that Mr O'Reilly, who is originally from Co Antrim, was frustrated by the slow progress in his efforts to modernise the service since taking over the role.

The appointment was announced by Health Minister Robin Swann last August, who at the time said he had "no doubt that he will provide the necessary leadership to guide NIFRS into the future".

A spokesman for the NIFRS last night declined to respond and said "we aren't making any comment at present".

Speaking last year about his role as NIFRS chief officer, which commands a salary of around £128,000, he said he was "extremely proud to lead it going forward and work with over 1,800 exceptional operational and wider supporting team members, as we continue to deliver our prevention and emergency response service to protect our community".

Mr O'Reilly has more than 25 years experience within the fire and rescue services after joining the then Northern Ireland Fire Brigade in 1990.

He served for most of his career in Belfast as a firefighter, junior officer and district commander before moving to Ballymena to become assistant area commander and later northern area commander.

He later joined Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and was chief fire officer at the time of the bombing at Manchester Arena that killed 22 and injured more than 1,000.

Mr O'Reilly retired from the role four months after the attack.

During the Manchester Arena inquiry, he said he had "let everyone down" after the bombing and apologised to the bereaved families for his failings.

The inquiry heard that firefighters were not sent to the scene until two hours after the bombing

Earlier this month, Mr O'Reilly was forced to respond to potential legal concerns raised about an initiative that would have seen on-call fire-fighters attend cardiac calls alongside the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

The scheme had been set up in memory of Maggie Black (5), who died in December after waiting more than an hour for an ambulance to arrive.

But the initiative was suspended shortly after legal issues were raised with Mr O'Reilly by the Fire Brigades Union.