So if it is not possible to fix the DBD::Firebird, workarounds might be (most attractive first):

1. Use odbc (there used to be an odbc driver called libOdbcFb.so) - I hope I wouldn't need to change the version of FIrebird;
2. Revert to DBD::InterBase, I don't know that it works with Firebird 2.5 and I might have to revert to Firebird 2.1;
3. The least attractive option would be to change database to another engine and convert the schema and database.

What others might there be and what views do you have on these ones?

Regards

Steve.