Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

As with previous speakers from last night, I firstly convey my sincere sympathies to the families of Brian Murray and Mark O'Shaughnessy, as well as to their fire fighting colleagues. These men died tragically on Wednesday, 26 September while tackling a blaze in Bray, County Wicklow. I also commend their families for appearing on the "Late Late Show" last Friday, as they must be praised for speaking out so soon after the loss of their loved ones and highlighting the need to reform fire services in this country.

Five years ago, the Government ordered a review of the fire services, with one key recommendation from the review being the need to establish a national fire authority. To date, nothing has happened in this regard and it is quite obvious we have not learned from the Stardust tragedy, despite similar recommendations coming from its investigations.

Bray, like many other large urban centres, is a fast-growing town with a population in the region of 32,000. What happened on that fateful morning in Bray could easily happen in any other town throughout the country. The scenario is similar in Ennis, which has a population of approximately 25,000. The fire service in Ennis station has a complement of 16 retained fire-fighters who must serve the greater area with a population of 60,000 people.

Earlier this year, I highlighted the problems in my own constituency experienced by part-time fire-fighters. They have state-of-the-art equipment, are extremely well trained and train on a regular basis. I have seem them first-hand doing drills and dealing with mock accidents.

Their being on-call and part-time means they cannot have another job. The local authority refuses to sanction a full-time service because of the cost involved despite calls to Ennis fire station increasing by 20% over the past year. In 2006, it dealt with 569 calls, 98 more than the previous year. That is a very busy service, with an average of two calls per day. Similar towns, such as Sligo and Dundalk, have a full-time service despite them not receiving as many calls.

The time has come to reform the fire services. We need a more professional approach from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as fire-fighters not only carry out their traditional duties, but must also increase their role in educating the public with fire awareness and safety. There should be visits to schools, as the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, stated last night, and there should be above all else more inspections of our nightclubs, where many young people congregate at night. We do not want another Stardust tragedy.

Our fire-fighters throughout the country serve our communities with distinction, putting themselves in dangerous situations to save lives. Retained fire-fighters, no matter how alert, require five to seven minutes to mobilise, depending on traffic. We are all aware of the gridlock on urban roads, so those five or seven minutes could make all the difference in saving a valuable life.

The art of fire fighting has changed considerably recently. Thankfully, chimney fires are on the decrease but the service must now deal with chemical spills and fires, fires in high-rise buildings and apartments, horrific car accidents resulting from speeding and anti-social behaviour problems such as bogus calls. There were 100 bogus calls made in my own constituency of Clare last year.

Only last week thugs set alight an industrial bin outside my constituency office. The fire service was called to the scene but as the fire station in Ennis was already dealing with two fires, the Shannon service 22 km away had to deal with it. If another serious incident occurred that morning, there would have been serious pressure on the fire services and the call-out time would have been increased.

It was chilling to hear the words of the late Brian Murray's family recollecting how he predicted somebody would die before the end of the year unless there was a major overhaul of the fire services. That speaks for itself. We will always remember the bravery of the New York fire services on 11 September 2001 and we will remember the bravery of the two fire-fighters who lost their lives on that fateful morning of 26 September this year. They have made the ultimate sacrifice and their bravery and courage will be remembered.

Fine Gael will support and encourage reform of the fire services. We ask the Minister not to leave the report on the fire services lie in dust like other reports.

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