Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Under section 22(4) of the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003, a fire authority may require owners or occupiers of buildings to provide building information to support the preparation of PIPs, such as plans of buildings, hydrant locations, number of persons day and night, both ambulant and non-ambulant, evacuation plans, a list of hazardous materials stored or processed and contact details. Fire station training programmes include sessions on site familiarisation and pre-incident planning, including the application of an appropriate risk assessment methodology. On-site visits to specific premises are valuable as familiarisation training for responding crews and serve as quality assurance for PIPs. The preparation and ongoing review of PIPs are an important step in underpinning the risk management-based approach of the Irish fire services.

I am conscious that, in my response, I have not given the Senator all of the detail that she required so I will ask the Department to revert to her. I know she asked about recruitment challenges and there is no doubt that, as I stated, there are challenges right across the labour market. In terms of the broader reporting mechanism that she sought information on, I will ask the Department to revert to her.