Fire services in Ireland are provided by the local authorities designated in accordance with the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003. The fire authorities provide a range of operational and fire safety services through 27 service delivery units currently, using an infrastructure of some 220 fire stations and 600 fire appliances and associated specialist equipment.
My Department's National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management provides support through setting general policy, the provision of training support and guidance on operational and other related matters, and capital funding which, over the last decade, has exceeded €155 million.
In February 2013 the Keeping Communities Safe (KCS) policy document was published as national policy and for the first time national standards were established for fire services in Ireland. Local authority fire service provision can now be benchmarked against these national standards. KCS was prepared through a collaborative approach between central and local government, involving expert professional input by Chief Fire Officers and fire services personnel.
The KCS development process considered the option of a national fire service but it was decided it should remain a local government service, while moving to a 'shared services' structure with a reduction in the number of service delivery units in the interests of consistency and an enhanced range of services.
The objective of KCS implementation in the period 2013-2015 is to have all fire services benchmarked against the national norms and standards while maintaining local political accountability. Accountability for fire service delivery is maintained through the normal arrangements under which the local authority executive is answerable to its elected members for the implementation of policy, as well as the exercise by local authority elected members of their reserved function of adopting “Fire and Emergency Operations Plans”, preparation of which is a statutory requirement under Section 26 of the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003. The principles of local democratic control and accountability for fire service provision are therefore maintained, while at the same time providing for consistency and national standards for a public service as important as the fire service.
