Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I acknowledge the presence in the Visitors Gallery of family members of the two deceased members of the retained fire service along with their colleagues.

The entire country has been shocked by the deaths of sub officer Brian Murray and fire fighter Mark O'Shaughnessy who died in the line of duty fighting a fire in Bray. The tragic events of 26 September once again remind us of the risks that members of the fire service throughout the land face on a daily basis. Their job is one of duty that is underpinned by the courage of going to work each day having to deal with and manage dangerous and life threatening situations. In the period following this recent tragedy people all over the country have rightly once again acknowledged the courage of members of the full-time and retained fire services in every part of Ireland, and upon whom we all depend for our safety.

However during this period of sadness and public sympathy, a number of serious issues have also been raised by the Bray fire deaths. Colleagues of the two men have called for an independent investigation into their deaths and the Government should respond to this call. In addition, we believe the Dáil and the public are entitled to an explanation as to why so many of the recommendations of the Farrell Grant Sparks review of fire safety and fire services, submitted to the Government in January 2002, have not yet been implemented.

One of the key recommendations in that report was the establishment of a national authority for fire and civil protection/emergency services. Unfortunately the Government has refused to act on it and it is time to accept that such an over-arching structure for the fire service is now essential. It also time to recognise that despite the bravery and commitment of retained fire-fighters, some retained fire services are no longer adequate to provide the level of protection required in areas of high population and of high risk. The motion seeks a commitment to the introduction of full-time fire services for Bray and other such areas of high population and of high risk.

In the period following the tragic deaths of sub officer Brian Murray and fire-fighter Mark O'Shaughnessy information has entered the public domain that clearly demonstrates the need for an independent investigation. This is information with regard to the staffing levels, difficulties in rostering arrangements and the time in which the Bray Fire Service was able to dispatch itself to attend to the fire and how dispatch systems between different local authorities operate.

In the aftermath of this tragedy what must be examined are the resources that were available to the men, such as breathing apparatus and procedures, along with hydraulic platforms, the ability to put in place a command and control system, all of which indicate that there were difficulties with a shortage of personnel at the scene in deploying these resources. All of these concerns raise crucial questions that must be answered. It is not enough to say, as has been said, that things may not have been any different whether the firemen who went out on duty on 26 September where part-time or not. Such a speculative statement is by no measure of means an acceptable response to what happened on that day.

These questions can only be answered through the process of an independent investigation in which a full account of the day's events are examined in the full context in which the tragedy occurred. An investigation is owed to the families of these men, their colleagues, the broader fire service, the local community and society as a whole.

There is a narrative leading up to this tragic event that goes back to the Stardust fire in 1981. Unfortunately a recurring theme of that narrative is one in which the State has not strategically responded. Instead it has at times been crisis driven and at other times consistently failed to act upon many of its own recommendations. For instance, following the Fire Services Act 1981, the Stardust tribunal report was published in 1982. Although the terms of reference for the tribunal did not provide for a general review of the fire service it did, however, make a number of key recommendations which had implications for the fire service as a whole. These included that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should have overall central responsibility for the fire-fighting and fire prevention services provided by the local authorities, the Minister should establish an inspectorate for the fire service with three distinct areas of responsibility, supervision of all fire-fighting services in the country, supervision of fire prevention and fire protection measures in the State and to establish and maintain a national training centre for fire personnel. The inspectorate should prescribe standards of fire cover to be provided by all local authorities. While some other aspects of the tribunal recommendations have been implemented these three key primary points of the report are still outstanding.

In recent years, another major piece of research has been carried out on restructuring of the fire service. A report entitled a Review of Fire Safety and Fire Services in Ireland by Farrell Grant Sparks for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government was published in 2002. This was the first report of its kind for over two decades and the review noted that "given this lengthy gap it should not come as a surprise to anyone that major change now needs to be implemented".

In particular the review made a number of recommendations for structural change, chief among these, and not so coincidently, was a recommendation earlier indicated in the Stardust tribunal report, namely the creation of a national fire authority. The central recommendation of the Farrell Grant Sparks review was the establishment of a national fire authority.

In making recommendations the review identified a number of minimum core requirements to the structural model for the planning, development and delivery of fire and civil protection/emergency services functions. These were the provision of a strong and integrated focus at national level including the provision of the required competencies and capability, the extension of the concept of regionalisation beyond the communications and mobilisation functions currently co-ordinated at that level in order to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness and value for money and strengthened, better resourced and more effective arrangements at local fire authority level operating in a more consistent manner and delivering a higher quality of service.

At a national level it recommended that the functions currently discharged by the fire services and emergency planning section of the Department, the fire advisory staff of the Department, and the Fire Services Council "should be brought together into a single unified structure".

The review further set out to recommend the need to establish a new fire and civil protection/emergency services authority to implement the recommendations. In effect this recommended re-titling the Fire Services Council as the Fire and Civil Protection/Emergency Services Authority and, most importantly, expanding its role and remit and integrating into the structure the other staff and resources in the Department currently devoted to fire and emergency planning functions. The review went on to state:

The task of bringing about real change in structures, organisational arrangements, operations, culture and people development with a view to impacting on reductions in fires, fire deaths, injuries and social and economic loss from fire and other emergencies should not be underestimated.

It is, we believe, essential that the core outcome from this Strategic Review will be a headline message, signalling the seriousness of intent to tackle current short-comings, through the establishment of a new Authority to develop, lead and direct a new departure for Fire and Civil Protection/Emergency Services functions in Ireland.

At a regional level it was proposed that three regionally based control centres in the east, the south and the west should be developed, capable of serving the mobilisation and communication needs of the fire authorities in these regions. Taking on board concerns it did not recommend any change to the existing statutory role of the fire authorities. Even at a local level the review demonstrated that the enhanced remit of the local fire and civil protection and emergency services authorities would allow for chief fire officers to have, where appropriate, direct delegation of powers, authority, responsibility and accountability to cover the functions assigned to them.

In examining the retained fire service's role in the new national structure, it saw it as continuing to play a vital role. However, it also saw its capacity to do so as under threat from difficulties such as recruitment, retention and securing release from employers of personnel in the retained fire service. In response it recommended a concerted programme of support and development for the retained service as being necessary were it to continue to play a much needed role in the regime.

The motion before us this evening places a high value on the service provided by the retained fire service and recognises the vital role it plays in fighting fires and protecting lives and property in local communities across the country. However, the events in Bray clearly demonstrate that the intended historical role of this service in many parts of Ireland has now become so extended that it now requires upgrading to a full-time fire service in areas of high population and high risk. We now require a full risk assessment approach to be carried out in areas of high population, which also present high risk factors as has been witnessed by the tragic events in Bray. There are many other examples where a risk assessment would clearly show that full-time fire services are also urgently required in other parts of the country.

For example in county Cork, the largest in Ireland, there is only one full-time fire service which serves the city and immediate regions by agreement. The rest of the county is dependent upon a retained service. Mayo, the second largest county in Ireland, while being a control centre for the western region, has no full-time fire service at all. To expand upon the point, probably the greatest example in the country of the absence of a proper risk assessment approach is the lack of a full-time fire service in the town of Carrigaline. Were a proper risk assessment carried out in this locality it would show that the region has 11 Seveso sites and the highest number of pharmaceutical plants in Ireland. Furthermore the town of Carrigaline, which is in the flight path of Cork Airport, has grown so extensively, from a population of 700 people in 1971 to 15,000 today, as to be now completely unrecognisable today from the town it was.

In the time since the review was published in 2002 we have had four Ministers in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, three in previous administrations and now the Minister, Deputy Gormley, in the present one. When considering his predecessor's records, the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, in announcing the publication of the report commented:

The weaknesses identified in the report will have to be addressed. The new approach recommended in the report will have many positive benefits both for full-time and retained fire services personnel throughout the country.

In concluding his comments he gave a clear commitment stating his first priority was to move towards implementation of the recommendations of the report that fell under his direct remit. However, when the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, moved on from this Department the key recommendation to create a national fire authority had not been implemented.

His successor as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, when eventually announcing the creation of a national fire authority in 2004 said that it was his determination to do it within his tenure in the Department. He went on to say that he had no intention of going anywhere except remaining in the Custom House. Six months later his successor as Minister, Deputy Roche, reversed that decision choosing instead to set up steering groups to drive what he described as change. We now have a new Minister in Deputy Gormley, and this evening's motion affords him the opportunity, if he is willing, to set about fully implementing this report.

If we also examine and breakdown the present structure we see that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, county and city managers, locally elected politicians, chief fire officers, various individual fire authorities and the National Safety Council are involved. All these bodies represent components of how fire firing and prevention is managed and delivered today. All these individual components work to the best of their ability but not as one single co-ordinated unit. The motion calling for the establishment of a national authority would address this obvious problem and ensure uniformity of structure, training and service delivery across the country.

In my opening remarks I commented upon a narrative leading up to the tragic events of 26 September 2007 that goes right back to the Stardust fire in 1981. An unfortunate and recurring theme of that narrative is one in which the State has not strategically responded to these tragedies. Rather it has at times been crisis driven and sadly consistently failed to act upon many of its own recommendations.

The motion before us this evening gives us an opportunity to show that eventually the lessons have been learnt. The motion gives an opportunity in which this House can rise above the usual and expected responses of Government and Opposition debate. It is an opportunity to demonstrate clearly that the tragic events of 26 September in Bray have at last begun to set into motion the examination and creation of a fire service that meets the needs of today's Ireland. Most of all it is an opportunity to put in place the type of fire authority that the brave personnel of our fire services deserve and which we as a modern society should expect. I call on all Members of the House to support the motion.

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