Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 April 2026
253. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for a formal risk reassessment to be carried out in Naas Fire Station by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27866/26]
View answer254. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether consideration will be given to a full-time or day-manned service at Naas Fire Station; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27867/26]
View answer255. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether consideration will be given to increased funding and resourcing for fire services in north Kildare, given the constituency’s rapid growth and increasing demand on such services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27868/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 253, 254 and 255 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, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Acts, 1981 & 2003. My Department, primarily through the National Directorate for Fire & Emergency Management (NDFEM), 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.
Under the Fire Services Acts, there are 31 fire authorities which provide fire prevention and fire protection services for communities through 27 service delivery structures.
The prioritisation of work and effective management of all resources is, in the first instance, a matter for management in each of the fire services, based on their assessment of local risk, needs and resources. In relation to the staffing requirements in each local authority, under the Local Government Act, 2001 it is the responsibility of each Chief Executive to employ such staff and to make such staffing, funding, recruitment and organisational arrangements as may be deemed necessary for the purposes of carrying out the functions of their local authority.
The provision of fire services by local authorities is based on a risk management approach which involves an analysis of the nature of the fire hazards and the incidence and extent of fires which occur, as well as the fire protection measures in place.
Government policy as set out in Keeping Communities Safe provides guidance to fire authorities on the provision of fire services, in particular on the process of ‘Area Risk Categorisation’ to guide the planning of the optimum configuration of stations and staffing arrangements appropriate to the established risk profile. Any consideration of change to the staffing profile of a fire station would be a matter for the local authority based on their established need.
Through the Fire services capital programme 2021-2025, my Department invested approximately €4.4 million to fund the delivery of a state of the art, modern fire station at Maynooth. I recently announced a new fires services capital programme, the largest ever investment in fire and emergency services with €328.5 million allocated for the period 2026-2030. The programme, developed by my Department, in consultation with the Local Government sector, sets out a comprehensive plan to modernise Ireland’s fire service fleet, infrastructure, training capability and communications systems to meet the evolving risks facing communities nationwide. The details of that announcement are available at the following link:
www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/press-releases/minister-browne-announces-record-3285-million-fire-services-capital-programme/
Under the Fire Services Capital programme 2026-2030 my Department has already committed in excess of €4.1 million to Kildare fire service including funding for a new fire station at Monasterevin, a further new Class B appliance, Water Tanker, support vehicle and other emergency equipment. My Department will continue to support projects such as these across all 27 fire authorities to ensure our firefighters have the necessary supports to carry out their roles safely and to the best of their ability and training.
Fire authorities cooperate with each other as and when required, and on a regular basis, on a number of matters. For example, they are enabled by the Fire Services Act, 1981 & 2003 to assist each other and provide support on a ‘mutual-assistance’ basis, and this is the expected norm for Fire Services. Fire Service resources are deployed based on Pre-Determined Attendance (PDA). Those are the instructions of a Chief Fire Officer to the relevant Regional Communications Centre (RCC) for an initial fire service response to an emergency call for assistance and the concept of the ”next nearest appliance” ensures operational resilience by mandating if a primary fire station or its resources are unavailable, likely through response to a concurrent incident, the system automatically defaults to mobilise the next nearest resource regardless of any administrative boundary.
It should be noted that included in fire services capital programme (2026 - 30) announcement was funding for a new full time fire station at Clonburris in west Dublin bordering north Kildare, providing an additional level of fire cover in the north Kildare/ west Dublin area.
