Before I deal with the provision of this Bill, I would like to say a few words about its history and background. The Bill was presented to the Dáil by the previous Government in April of this year. It passed its Second Reading in the Dáil on 5 May last and at that time was given a general welcome by speakers from all the main parties. It lapsed when the Dáil was dissolved prior to the General Election. When the Government came into office the opportunity was taken to give very careful consideration to suggestions made in the meantime by various interests, including fire service staff interests, professional bodies and so on. When the Bill was restored to the Dáil Order Paper at the commencement of this session a number of amendments were put down to meet such suggestions and generally improve the Bill. The most important of these was the introduction of a new section 16 providing for the establishment of a Fire Service Council which would be empowered to provide services for and on behalf of the Minister and fire authorities.
Two main factors have influenced the evolution of the present Bill. One was the need to improve the organisation and powers of the country's fire service to meet present-day and future requirements. The other factor was the need to strengthen and update the legislative provisions relating to fire safety.
The provisions of this Bill need to be set in their proper perspective and to do so it would be useful to have a brief review of the development of legislation governing the fire service up to now. In the nineteenth century fire legislation was largely confined to the Town Commissioners Acts and this had two important implications. Fire fighting powers were the preserve of urban authorities and were adoptive rather than mandatory. Even though Part VIII of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1907 gave both urban and rural authorities an implied power to maintain fire brigades, this power was still adoptive.
The primary object, therefore, of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, was to introduce a statutory requirement to provide fire cover right across the country. This it did by imposing an obligation on all sanitary authorities to make reasonable provision for the prompt and efficient extinguishing of fires in their areas and for the protection and rescue of persons and property from injury by fire. Sanitary authorities were free to discharge this obligation either by themselves maintaining a fire brigade or by arranging with another authority to provide this service in their area. The 1940 Act also laid down the basis of a fire prevention system by introducing the concept of a potentially dangerous building and providing for the service of a fire precautions notice in respect of such a building.
Although the Fire Brigades Act, 1940 was a comparatively brief measure, it enabled local authorities to establish an effective fire fighting system and to operate considerable controls for the prevention of fire hazards. Accordingly, although the present Bill proposes to repeal the old Act, its main provisions are being re-enacted.
Much has happended in the past 40 years to warrant a radical review of fire service legislation. Industrialisation has progressed on a scale never contemplated in 1940. We have also witnessed vast technological change and we have in recent years seen the trend towards increased urbanisation and the growth in residential, service and amenity development consequent on our expanding population and increased economic activity. Another factor is that changes have taken place in the methods, scale and style of construction, including introduction of new building materials.
All of these factors placed new and increasing demands on the operational fire service, in terms of fire cover, equipment and training and also increased the need for adequate standards of fire safety in buildings, especially where a risk to life might be involved.
The need for a thorough assessment of the capacity of our fire service in the light of its increased responsibilities was recognised when the Minister for Local Government appointed a working party in November 1972 to advise him on the questions of fire resources, fire prevention measures, legislation, financial implications and on staffing and training arrangements.
The main report of the working party was published without Government commitment in July 1975, and it contained 39 recommendations grouped into five broad categories: the operational service, fire prevention, staffing structure and qualifications, training and miscellaneous and transitional matters. There were also five minority reports. Action has been taken on virtually all of the recommendations of the majority report. Most of them have been or are being implemented.
The report made a number of recommendations relating to legislation. It suggested a review of the fire fighting provisions of the 1940 Act, the placing of an onus on persons in control of premises to which the public have access to guard against the risk to life from fire, the need to have a comprehensive system of inspection and control of buildings and so on.
An important recommendation in the report was the one which suggested that each local authority should prepare an assessment of the strength and adequacy of the local fire service. During 1976 my Department asked local authorities to undertake these reviews and their reports which were received in the following years, together with the report on the fire service, provide the background to most of the provisions included in this Bill.
The reviews of course dealt primarily with purely local problems, for example, the adequacy of local arrangements, equipment, staffing and so on. While the reviews are not always as comprehensive as might be required ideally, they have served their purpose in pointing the way in which the local services must be improved and developed. My Department are following up with individual authorities points arising in the reviews. Generally the role of the Department is to advise, assist and encourage the local authorities as far as possible within the resources available to secure the necessary improvements.
This co-operative approach, which respects the essential features of our local government system, was envisaged by the 1975 report and has been accepted by successive Ministers, rightly in my opinion. I mention this because an alternative suggestion sometimes heard is that the Department's approach should be to carry out sworn public inquiries into the manner in which many of the individual fire authorities perform their functions, to be followed by disciplinary and other actions as directed by the Minister. I could not accept such an alternative approach. I think the proper approach is the co-operative one indicated throughout the 1975 report and put into practice by my predecessors.
I want to turn now to the detailed provisions of the Bill. The Bill itself is divided into four Parts containing groups of sections dealing with preliminary and general matters, the organisation of the fire service, fire fighting and fire safety requirements and, finally, consequential financial and administrative arrangements. Part I is concerned with preliminary and general matters and contains a number of standard sections dealing with commencement of the Act, definitions, the procedure for making regulations and certain orders, offences and penalties, expenses of the Minister and repeals.
The main substantive provisions of Part I are the repeal by section 8 of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, and the now obsolete Cinematograph Act, 1909, the provision for offences and greatly increased penalties for offences which are specified in section 5.
Summary and indictable offences are treated separately. A person convicted of a summary offence will be liable to a maximum penalty of a £500 fine and/or six months imprisonment. Indictable offences, which may arise from failure to comply with the duty placed on persons having control of certain premises by section 18 (2) or failure to comply with the provisions of a fire safety notice under section 20 or fire safety regulations under section 37, will be even more severely punishable by fines of up to £10,000 and/or imprisonment for up to two years.
These penalties represent an updating of the penalties contained in the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, and also reflect a determination to ensure that people are not exposed to fire hazards as a result of the carelessness or lack of responsibility of the owners, occupiers or other persons in charge of premises. This determination can also be seen in the provision for trial by jury where serious offences are concerned.
Part II of the Bill is concerned with the organisation of the fire service. The main feature of this Part of the Bill is the proposed concentration of all fire functions, both fire fighting and fire safety, in 35 local authorities to be known as fire authorities. The 35 fire authorities provided for in section 9 are the 27 county councils, the four county borough corporations, the borough corporations of Dún Laoghaire and Drogheda and the urban district councils of Dundalk and Athlone.
I would like to explain the reasons for this proposed change. First, let me outline the existing position under the Fire Brigades Act, 1940. Responsibility for both fire fighting and fire safety was, formally at least, assigned individually to each of the 87 sanitary authorities. In practice, however, all the boroughs and urban districts with the exception of those mentioned above, Dún Laoghaire, Drogheda, Dundalk and Athlone made arrangements with their respective county councils for the provision of a fire brigade service. Therefore, the proposal to assign fire fighting functions to the 35 listed authorities only recognises the de facto position which has obtained for sometime.
The situation in respect of fire prevention functions is somewhat different. Under the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, and a number of other enactments these functions have generally been vested in all 87 sanitary authorities. While statutory agreements have been made by a number of urban authorities to have these fire safety functions carried out by their county councils, formal arrangements of this kind have not been the general rule. At the same time, most urban authorities have relied on county councils, partly at least, to provide them informally with the expertise necessary to discharge their fire prevention functions.
In view of the existing position and because I believe that some rationalisation will strengthen the organisation and efficiency of the fire service, section 9 provides that there shall be 35 authorities: section 10 spells out their functions, section 11 provides for the transfer to fire authorities of the main fire safety functions vested in local authorities and sanitary authorities under other enactments, and section 17 provides, where needed, for the transfer of any staff or property dedicated exclusively to fire prevention work from borough or urban districts to the relevant fire authority.
I am sure that the House recognises the importance of the relationship between fire safety and planning control and especially the need to ensure a full fire safety input into the planning decisions of urban planning authorities which are not fire authorities. While I know that it is normal practice to seek fire safety on planning matters, I feel that there should be no doubt on this point and accordingly section 13 will allow a fire authority to advise a planning authority on the exercise of its planning control functions.
The fire fighting functions of fire authorities, which are set out in section 10 are largely a re-enactment of the corresponding provisions of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940. A general duty is placed on fire authorities to make provision for the prompt and efficient extinguishing of fires in buildings and other places, to establish and maintain a fire brigade and make adequate provision for reception of and response to calls. Fire authorities are expressly enabled by section 10 to make arrangements with each other for the joint discharge of their functions and to enter agreements with any other person or body either to provide or to avail of services.
Section 14 requires fire authorities, as far as reasonably possible, to give assistance to one another. The present Bill, however, does not itself authorise the making of agreements between fire authorities for the performance of the functions of one authority by another, and, indeed, it actually drops a provision to this effect which was contained in section 2 (3) of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940. This is because local authorities now have adequate general powers to make agreements for the performance of functions of one authority by another under section 59 of the Local Government Act, 1955. However, subsection (6) of section 10 of this Bill gives the Minister a reserve power to direct fire authorities to make agreements under the 1955 Act where this appears to him to be necessary. Where agreements were made under the 1940 Act by local authorities who now become fire authorities, these agreements will be deemed to have been made under the 1955 Act.
It is as well at this stage to deal briefly with the additional powers related to the fire fighting functions of fire authorities which are spelt out, especially in sections 25 to 31. Section 25 allows a fire authority to carry out or assist at operations of an emergency nature whether or not a risk of fire is involved. This provision gives statutory recognition to the role of fire authorities in assisting at non-fire emergencies. Section 26 requires fire authorities to prepare fire and emergency operations plans.
Sections 27 and 28 develop the provisions of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, regarding control of operations at a fire, section 27 designating and defining the person in control at an incident and section 28 giving this person wide ancillary powers. Subsection (9) of section 10 also deserves mention here: it gives a fire authority power to send a fire brigade outside their own area or outside the area of any fire authority, for example on to a marine structure, and ensures that they will have all the ancillary powers in section 28 when this is done.
Section 29 makes it clear that the functions of sanitary authority to provide a water supply also include the provision of a water supply for fire fighting and the provision and maintenance of fire hydrants at such places as required by the fire authority. The section also places a duty on a sanitary authority to consult with a fire authority and take agreed measures where the latter consider that reasonable provision has not been made for water supplies for fire fighting purposes. Section 31 makes it an offence to interfere with, damage or obstruct a fire hydrant. Subsection 10 of section 10 places a duty on fire authorities occasionally to conduct a survey to examine the location and adequacy of the water supplies for fire fighting as well as fire hydrants and fire fighting equipment. Section 30 makes it an offence to give a false fire alarm or to cause one to be given.
Returning to Part II of the Bill, section 15 is concerned with training and places the primary duty of training their personnel on the fire authority. However, it also empowers the Minister to assist them in performing this function, whether by providing central training courses and facilities, conducting examinations or granting financial assistance. Indeed my Department are already providing assistance on these lines and this provision gives suitable statutory recognition to this work.
Section 16 of the Bill, to which I referred earlier, provides for the establishment of the Fire Services Council with the role of providing services for and on behalf of the Minister and fire authorities. While the full range of services to be provided by the council would be set out in an establishment order to be made under the section, the section itself spells out a number of specific services which the council would be empowered to provide at the request of the Minister. The first of these relates to assistance with fire service training. While my Department have given considerable assistance already in this area through organising central training courses, the programme needs to be expanded and developed as a matter of urgency to give the maximum assistance to local fire authorities in improving the efficiency of the fire service.
The production of guidelines and standards in respect of many aspects of the fire service is also necessary in order to promote efficiency and standardisation. Again my Department, with the help of ad hoc groups representative of fire service and other interests, are doing a certain amount of work in this area. Much, however, remains to be done and I consider that existing arrangements need to be developed on a more formal basis. The council is, therefore, being empowered to assist with the preparation of guidelines, codes of practice and draft fire safety regulations. These documents would still of course require my consideration and approval but their production could be much more expeditious if the research, drafting and consultation were entrusted to the council.
The council would also be empowered to organise research and to carry out investigations into fires or into operations of an emergency nature under section 25. In addition to the existing powers for establishment in appropriate cases of a tribunal of inquiry to inquire into a fire or other such incident, I consider that there should also be a less formal procedure available for use in appropriate circumstances which could quickly produce an account of the fire or incident and the lessons to be learned for the future. As a result of points made during the debate on this section in the Dáil, it was amended to provide that the council could carry out an investigation wholly or partly in public and suitable powers were included in relation to such matters as entering and inspecting lands or buildings, taking samples and requiring evidence to be taken on oath. I expect that these powers of investigation would be used by the council as informally as possible.
Part III of the Bill contains fire fighting and fire safety provisions and I have already outlined those related to fire fighting. The fire safety provisions of the Bill embody an important new principle in that they place a clear responsibility on persons having control over certain premises to take all reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire and to ensure the safety of persons on the premises.
Section 18 introduces this obligation and specifies the type of premises concerned. Broadly, all premises to which the public have access fall within the scope of the section, which also requires all persons on such premises to conduct themselves in such a way as not to expose any other person to danger from fire. I regard this as a very important provision of the Bill and it will, I hope, result in greater emphasis by property owners themselves on preventive action.
The Bill also strengthens the powers of fire authorities to take action on potentially dangerous buildings. Strong powers already exist in the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, to deal with such buildings. However, sections 19 and 20 will clarify and widen the powers of fire authorities to issue fire safety notices, which can require closure of a building, closure until certain things are done or the imposition of certain requirements without involving closure. Section 21 deals with appeals against notices. Fire authorities will have a separate power in section 23 to apply to the High Court for an order restricting or immediately prohibiting the use of land or buildings where there is an especially serious risk to life from fire.
Fire authorities will, of course, continue to have available to them the opportunity under various other codes, including the Licensing Acts and the Public Dance Halls Act, to ensure that adequate fire precautions are taken in such premises and section 24 ensures that they will get adequate notice of court applications connected with licensing and related legislation. Section 37 will give the Minister a reserve power to make regulations prescribing precautions to be taken in premises covered by section 18, to which I referred earlier.
The remaining major provision of Part III of the Bill is section 22. This widens the powers of inspection contained in the 1940 Act and gives substantial powers to a person authorised by a fire authority. The authorised person will be able to inspect, require information, conduct tests, take samples and so on and the fire authority itself will also have power to require the provision of plans and other information.
Part IV of the Bill, with the exception of section 37 which I have already outlined, deals with miscellaneous matters of finance and administration. Section 32 will allow the Minister, with the agreement of the Minister for Finance, to make annual or other grants to fire authorities towards the expenditure incurred by them in providing a fire service. This provision will validate the scheme of 50 per cent State subsidy on loan charges arising on capital borrowing for fire services which was introduced earlier this year and which will greatly assist fire authorities in providing new stations and equipment where these are necessary.
Section 33 allows for grants to persons or bodies engaged in fire research. Section 35 is another financial provision and it makes it clear that, with the exception of urban authorities who are fire authorities in their own right, the expenses of fire authorities will be apportionable equally over county and urban areas. The section also entitles a fire authority to charge users or beneficiaries of its services.
Section 34 makes provision, familiar in local government legislation, for the furnishing of information by fire authorities to the Minister, while section 38 is a technical measure clarifying the means by which notices under the Bill may be served. Section 36 adapts a provision of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940, so as to give immunity against legal proceedings for recovery of damages arising from the failure to discharge any of their functions under the Bill to the fire authorities, sanitary authorities and the Minister.
Before concluding I wish to emphasise that this Bill is only one of a number of measures being pursued by my Department with a view to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the service. This is not the appropriate place to go into detail as to the work being undertaken other than to mention it in broad outline. Most of the work arises from the recommendations of the report on the fire services and includes such matter as an increased capital provision for the service, together with a 50 per cent subsidy on loan repayments, the provision of central training courses and financial assistance for central training, the preparation of guidelines for the fire service, the promotion of fire prevention education through the Fire Prevention Council and so on.
This Bill now provides a statutory framework for many of these activities and I am confident that, with the assistance of the Fire Services Council and the co-operation of the fire authorities, persons in control of premises and the general public, we can make even greater progress in gearing the fire service to meet present needs and future demands.
I commend this Bill to the House.
