Fire Safety

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 April 2015

Thursday, 2 April 2015

Questions (244)

Arthur Spring

Question:

244. Deputy Arthur Spring asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will publish the details concerning the keeping communities safe document and ancillary documentation. [13847/15]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

The policy document Keeping Communities Safe (KCS) was published in February 2013 by my Department. The document is the output of a review process undertaken by my Department through a collaborative process between central and local government. This involved expert professional input by Chief Fire Officers and fire services personnel. The development process also included stakeholder consultation and engagement with relevant technical organisations. A review team was formed which looked at previous reports on fire services and international practice literature. The team developed initial ideas on issues and brought these to the National Fire Directorate's Management Board. These were combined into the draft versions of the document, which were used in the consultation process.

The original Keeping Communities Safe document is supplemented by a series of subject-specific Support Documents and Good Practice Notes. These deal with areas like Fire Service Training and Safety Management Systems in Fire Service. The Good Practice Notes (GPNs) describe the approach taken to specific issues by individual fire authorities, endorsed at national level, and aim to further the objectives of achieving consistent good practice and inter-authority learning.

Working structures and arrangements have been put in place to ensure that fire services personnel, working collectively, are central to the further fire service development process. These comprise relevant professional experts from fire authorities, with a mandate and a commission from the National Director to produce specified outputs. I am grateful to all those personnel in fire authorities who have made and continue to make valuable contributions to maintaining Ireland's position in the league of most fire safe countries.