Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 October 2021
305. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of staff in the fire service in Dublin over each of the past ten years; the number of vacancies that currently exist due to retirement; the number of staff due to retire in 2021 and 2022; the annual budget allocated to the Dublin Fire Service for each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47866/21]
View answerUnder section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible.
My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this end, my Department gathers aggregate quarterly data on staff numbers in each local authority on a whole time equivalent basis.
However granular data, in terms of the number of staff in the fire service in Dublin over each of the past ten years, the number of vacancies that currently exist due to retirement, the number of staff due to retire in 2021 and 2022, and the annual budget allocated to the Dublin Fire Service for each of the past ten years, is not collected and consequently is not available in my Department. The relevant information would be available from Dublin City Council.
The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, staffing, 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.
