It is a statutory function of each individual fire authority, under Section 10 of the Fire Services Act 1981, to provide a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs, the provision of a premises and the making of such other provisions as it considers necessary or desirable. Cork County Council’s fire services are provided primarily through a retained staffing system with a core of full time officers. Retained fire-fighters are employees of fire authorities, and are organised to provide a fire service through a network of 21 fire stations located throughout the county.
The Keeping Communities Safe (KCS) policy document, which I published as national policy in February 2013, sets out standards and norms for developing and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of fire services in Ireland. The approach in KCS is based on an ‘area risk categorisation’ system which will be applied across the country by all fire services, including in Cork County. This will result in fire station areas being graded across five bands from very high to very low risk categories. The fire service approach to risk management, including response in terms of numbers of fire appliances and fire crews in an area, is to correspond to this risk categorisation.
I understand that the risk categorisation process has been completed for the Cork County Area and appropriate risk designations for each station area in Cork County have been determined. To maintain local political accountability for fire services to the community, Section 26 of the Fire Services Acts provides that it is a reserved function of local authorities which maintain a fire brigade to adopt ‘fire and emergency operations plans’ indicating the provision made in respect of organisation, appliances, equipment, fire stations, training, operational procedure and any such matters as may be relevant. It is expected that the risk categorisation mentioned above will inform the next iteration of Section 26 plans.
Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each county and city manager is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. Accordingly, the deployment of fire brigade staff in Cork County is a matter in the first instance for the management of Cork County Council.
Since the embargo on the filling of public service posts was introduced on 24 March 2009, local authorities seek permission from my Department to fill staffing vacancies that arise within a fire service. All requests are considered on a case by case basis, having due regard to maintaining appropriate services within budgetary and staffing constraints. Fire-fighters numbers (1,170 full-time and 2,063 retained) have been protected from the impact of the recruitment embargo and the numbers have not changed since 2008, in contrast to the general trend in the local government sector, which has seen an approximate 25% decrease in staffing levels, including among senior fire officers.
I understand that the position in relation to staffing in Cork Fire Service is kept under constant review by Cork County Council management.
