Skip to main content
Normal View

Fire Service

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 April 2021

Thursday, 1 April 2021

Questions (165)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh

Question:

165. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures in place to ensure retention, upskilling and promotion of retained firefighters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18067/21]

View answer

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 fire authorities through setting general policy, providing the legislative framework, running a central training programme and issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects. Fire services issues are managed in my Department by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM).

Under the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003 there are 31 fire authorities which provide fire prevention and fire protection services for communities through 27 service delivery structures. Local authorities employ 3,300 staff who work at 218 fire stations nationwide. Fire services are provided by combinations of full-time and retained firefighters, professional, competent and highly committed personnel who work to protect their communities.

The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) provides support to individual fire services in the areas of Human Resources and Industrial Relations. The LGMA works with the NDFEM to monitor issues associated with recruitment and retention and on developing strategies to address issues which arise. It is clear that in some areas societal changes are impacting on the availability of personnel for the retained fire service and the number of candidates applying for retained fire service positions is limited in some cases. However, local authorities across the country continue to maintain their fire services throughout.

In relation to upskilling, on initially joining the fire service, retained firefighters are trained in accordance with a national syllabus. Fire-fighters are given further specialist training as required in the early stages of their careers. They continue to practice their skills through-out their careers with weekly on-station training. However, this ongoing local training has been disrupted by covid-related restrictions, as has much of fire service training provided at national level.

Promotional opportunities in the retained fire services are limited of necessity to vacancies which arise in the fire fighters' own station. The LGMA is currently engaged with with staff representative bodies in relation to changing one aspect of promotion arrangements, as part of the overall terms of employment.

In summary, the issues of recruitment, retention, upskilling and promotion of retained firefighter are continuously monitored by the LGMA in association with the Management Board of the NDFEM. The aim is to ensure that the entire country continues to be served effectively into the coming decades by fire services that are equipped to face and meet the challenges of our ever-changing society.

Top
Share