Dara Calleary
Question:286 Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if fire services charges are covered under the household charge fee (details supplied). [22947/12]
View answerTuesday, 8 May 2012
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Written answers
The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 and the Local Government (Household Charge) Regulations 2012 provide the legislative basis for the household charge. Under the legislation, an owner of a residential property on the liability date of 1 January 2012 is liable to pay the household charge by 31 March 2012, unless otherwise exempted or entitled to claim a waiver.
Revenues from the household charge are supporting the provision of essential local services. Internationally, local services are administered by local authorities and financed by local service charges. In Ireland, local authorities are responsible for, among other services, planning and development; fire and emergency services; roads; public parks; libraries; open spaces and leisure amenities; maintenance and cleaning of streets and street lighting. These services facilitate everyone.
Local authorities are permitted, under statute, to charge fees in relation to the services they provide. In the case of the Mayo County Fire Service, it is understood that the call out charge in place reflects only a proportion of the overall cost of attendance at incidents. The other costs of the Service, including fire prevention, inspections and emergency management are being met through a range of income sources, including commercial rates, Government grants and subsidies, the household charge and the charge on non-principal private residences. Communities benefit from the entirety of these fire and emergency services.
In many cases the householder/premises owner may recoup charges for attendance of the fire brigade at incidents such as house fires, road traffic accidents, and hay barn fires from relevant insurance policies, including motor, home and farm policies.
Most fire authorities operate waiver schemes in respect of call out charges. If there are cases of genuine hardship and inability to pay applicable charges, each case will be considered on its merits and a partial waiver or easy payment option may be considered.