Mr. Seán Hogan:

I will start with Deputy Ó Cuív's questions. I think his first point concerned the possibility of a grant scheme for smoke alarms. He highlighted what was done in the case of the islands and isolated communities a number of years ago. I am very much with him on that. There was a double benefit to what was done on the islands because the fire service cannot respond there. The approach over the past decade has been what we call community fire safety, that is, trying to link with people, get into the homes, get smoke alarms into the homes and educate people on the risk of fire. As well as the actual benefit, Deputy Ó Cuív mentioned the reduction in the number of fires on the islands. Creating an awareness of fire and the risks involved and so on has been one of the huge benefits. We are entirely with Deputy Ó Cuív on the issue of smoke alarms. We actually have a smoke alarm scheme at present in the national directive. In 2016 we will supply 14,000 smoke alarms to local authorities for distribution to people identified within the community as being particularly at risk from or vulnerable to fire. Fire services do not necessarily have access to people in these areas, so it is by linking with the community groups, public health nurses and various other people that the fire service can access those who are most at risk. Independent research undertaken by DCU indicates that the level of penetration of smoke alarms is very significant in the country now. Well in excess of 90% of households report having smoke alarms. What is not at all as clear is whether those smoke alarms are working.