Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

In closing the debate this evening I refer to the opening remarks made last night that there was a narrative leading up to the events of 26 September this year which goes right back to the Stardust disaster of 1981. As I said last night, an unfortunate and recurrent theme of that narrative is one in which the State has failed to strategically respond to these tragic situations and has instead become crisis-driven at best and has consistently failed to act upon its own recommendations, namely the Farrell Grant Sparks report and the Stardust tribunal report.

Over the course of the debate, the House heard many accounts of how the fire service carries out its duties across the country and I thank all those who contributed to the debate. In reviewing this commentary, it is clear that despite the exceptional job being done by both the full-time and retained fire services, many structural and day-to-day difficulties hinder them in carrying out their duties to the best of their ability.

I refer to the two key aspects of this debate. Should there be an independent inquiry into the deaths of sub-officer Brian Murray and firefighter Mark O'Shaughnessy? Is there a need to establish a national authority for fire and civil protection services? The answer is yes. Both those questions are inextricably linked to one another. If an independent investigation of the Bray tragedy were to be carried out in the morning, it would show there is a need for a national fire authority.

I refer to the comments of the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. The model of risk assessment proposed by the Minister of State is risk assessment contained within the local authority boundary areas. A national fire authority would conduct risk assessment on a nation-wide basis and, as a result, the Dún Laoghaire fire brigade would have been in Bray because the local boundary would not have been a division.

The national fire authority would provide a uniformity of structure, a uniformity of training and a uniformity of standards and what is most important, a uniformity of service delivery across the country.

The Minister, Deputy Gormley's response to the motion, shows that he is unsure as to how to proceed and he demonstrated his uncertainty by his contribution to the debate. The Government amendment to the Labour Party motion demonstrates no conviction, no direction and no political originality. It is simply an attempt to mirror what happened during the tenure of the former Minister, Deputy Roche's, term in office when it is clear he changed the direction of how fire strategy was to be developed. His predecessors in both Deputy Cullen and Deputy Dempsey, had a clear idea to implement in full the key recommendations and not the cherrypicked recommendations referred to by the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. The key recommendation of the establishment of a national fire authority was removed from the agenda. It was unfortunate to hear the Minister, Deputy Gormley, say that tonight.

This motion is an opportunity for the House to rise above the standard responses involved in Government and Opposition debate. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate that the tragic events of 26 September in Bray have begun to set in motion the creation of the fire service that Ireland needs. Most importantly, it is an opportunity to put in place the type of fire authority the brave personnel of our fire services deserve and our society requires.

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