Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 May 2014
141. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the current position regarding Keeping Communities Safe; the resources that have been available to implement this policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21871/14]
View answerIn February 2013 I published Keeping Communities Safe (KCS) as national policy for the future direction of fire services in Ireland. The document was the outcome of a collaborative review process, which included consultation with stakeholders, undertaken by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management in my Department. KCS sets out an overall systemic approach to the objective of reducing the number of fires and consequent annual loss, based on a risk management approach to fire safety. This combines the important elements of fire prevention with fire protection in buildings as well as fire service response. For the first time in Ireland, KCS establishes a set of national standards and norms against which local authority fire service provision can be benchmarked. The standards adopted are in keeping with international good practice in this field and provide a basis for achieving consistency across fire services.
The implementation phase is focussing on the integration of these national norms and standards into individual fire service planning over the period 2014 – 2015. One of the first steps has been the preparation of ‘Area Risk Categorisation’ reports by each fire service. Three years of actual fire data has been processed as part of the ‘Risk-Based Approach Project’ by the National Directorate in my Department. This analysis has enabled local authorities to assign a fire risk categorisation by station area. The data also allows comparison of trends for different categories of fires at individual fire station level with national norms. Specific targets for reduction of fires are being established by station area and will be actively pursued by fire services.
Individual fire services are now engaged in comparing their current local services with the national norms, established for the first time in KCS, and identifying any changes required which are to be implemented before December 2015. Fire services are also preparing the next generation of ‘Section 26’ ‘Fire and Emergency Operations Plans’ to be put before their Councils for consideration and adoption.
The process of external validation of local authority implementation of KCS, as provided for in the policy document, has commenced. This involves the National Directorate reviewing the position of each authority in relation to the steps set out in KCS and the extent to which national norms, standards and guidance are forming the basis for fire service provision. The first Annual External Validation Report will be completed in December 2014. KCS recommends, inter alia, the re-alignment of fire service structures, with the current 30 services being reduced to 21 service delivery units. The integration of fire services in Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford has been successfully undertaken and this experience provides a basis for developing the recommended ‘shared services’ arrangements among fire authorities.
KCS is being implemented at both local authority and national level within the current resource envelope. There is a strong collaborative approach between the National Directorate and the fire authorities to ensure that necessary implementation support arrangements are in place. A small number of expert staff have been made available by fire authorities to the National Directorate on secondment arrangements to progress specific projects.
