Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 April 2019
598. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will address matters (details supplied) regarding fire appliances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15303/19]
View answer599. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will address matters regarding an aerial appliance (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15304/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 598 and 599 together.
The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises and fire appliances is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Acts, 1981 and 2003.
My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects.
National policy in relation to fire services is set out in “Keeping Communities Safe” (KCS), published by my Department’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management in 2013. The KCS policy document sets out the overall approach, the methods and the techniques to achieve the objective of keeping communities safe from fire and sets out national norms, standards and targets against which local authorities can benchmark their fire services.
Over the course of 2014/2015, the National Directorate’s Management Board commissioned an "External Validation Group" (EVG) to visit each of the twenty seven local authority fire services. In April 2016, the Management Board published the first EVG Report titled “Local Delivery - National Consistency” arising from this work. The report concluded, inter alia, that local authorities benchmarked their fire services against the national standards and national norms, and a strong degree of consistency, linked to area risk categorisation, now exists in fire service provision; and all local authorities are using, or are working towards, national norms as minimum standards.
Decisions regarding the number and type of fire appliances maintained is a matter for each fire authority having regard to the assessment of their individual fire cover needs and the provision and management of a fleet adequate to their requirements. As part of my Department's fire services capital programme, I announced a new national joint-procurement programme in 2017 to purchase 20 new fire appliances. Dublin City Council's Fire Service received an allocation for three new ‘Class B’ appliances. In 2015, under a similar programme, Dublin's Fire Service also received an allocation for three ‘Class B’ appliances. Dublin City Council's Fire Service requested, and received approval, to substitute the cost of one of the appliances to purchase a pre-used turntable ladder. In addition to these allocations, since 2008, my Department has also funded four ‘Class B’ appliances and one turntable ladder for Dublin.
In relation to Fire Appliance Delta 126, referenced in the question, my Department was not party to the purchase of that appliance and the information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department. It may be available directly from the Fire Authority, in this instance Dublin City Council in respect of Dublin Fire Brigade.
