Sorca Clarke
Question:323. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the funding for fire stations in 2018, 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, by county. [44656/20]
View answerWednesday, 13 January 2021
Questions (323)
Written answers
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, 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 equipment and priority infrastructural projects.
In February 2016, my Department announced a five-year Fire Services Capital Programme with an allocation of €40 million, based on an annual €8 million allocation, to be used for the purchase of fire appliances and specialist equipment, building or upgrading of prioritised Fire Stations, an upgrade of the Communications and Mobilisation system and improvements to Training Centres.
The five-year programme proposed the construction/refurbishment of twenty six fire stations. This included sixteen new builds and ten upgrade/refurbishment projects. A total of €10.44m has been spent for new and upgraded fire stations from 2018 to date under the 2016 – 2020 programme, as detailed in the table below. Fire station projects completed under this Programme include Ballinamore, Carraroe, Drumshanbo, Ferbane, Graiguenmanagh, Templemore, Tuam and Virginia; with refurbishments at Ennis, Ennistymon, Kilrush and Longford; as well as upgrades of Clonmel, Dundalk and Hacketstown Training Centres.
I recently announced a new Fire Services Capital Programme for the period 2021 - 2025, with a funding allocation of €61 million. Following extensive engagement with fire authorities, a number of proposals for station works etc. were received. The proposals were evaluated and prioritised on the basis of the:
- area Risk Categorisation of the fire station (population, fire risks, etc.);
- established Health and Safety needs;
- state of development of the project (is site acquired, etc.); and
- value for money offered by the proposal.
This new Programme will see six new fire stations built, continued support for the construction of a further 12 new fire stations, nine fire station refurbishments as well as the allocation of 35 new fire engines. In order to maximise the available funding, my Department re-assesses the status of projects in the Programme on an annual basis, and some flexibility is normally available to advance projects that are ready and that offer best value-for-money taking account of the state of readiness of projects more generally.
The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the table below.
Table: Fire Services Capital Programme Fire Station Expenditure 2018 – 2021
|
Fire Authority |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
|
Carlow Coco |
€115,612 |
€- |
€96,217 |
€- |
|
Cavan Coco |
€- |
€1,448,141 |
€191,086 |
€- |
|
Clare Coco |
€150,974 |
€503,219 |
€254,982 |
€- |
|
Cork Coco |
€- |
€241,566 |
€549,243 |
€- |
|
Galway Coco |
€1,711,760 |
€- |
€53,531 |
€- |
|
Leitrim Coco |
€- |
€- |
€603,923 |
€- |
|
Longford Coco |
€270,030 |
€- |
€- |
€- |
|
Louth Coco |
€- |
€84,475 |
€- |
€- |
|
Meath Coco |
€- |
€- |
€151,215 |
€- |
|
Monaghan Coco |
€39,558 |
€193,313 |
€1,034,221 |
€- |
|
Offaly Coco |
€222,385 |
€- |
€123,733 |
€- |
|
Tipperary Coco |
€190,508 |
€85,000 |
€1,629,098 |
€- |
|
Wicklow Coco |
€- |
€142,390 |
€- |
€- |