Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I join in the criticism of Deputies being asked to make so many decisions on so much in such little time. Obviously, the clock is ticking on getting this business done. The problem rests with the slow pace in getting matters to this point.

I am not going to comment on the issue of directly elected mayors now as I will make my comments at some other time. In the time available to me before the next debate commences, I will focus on issues relating to the boundary changes in Cork and the staffing levels in the two local authorities that are to be newly constituted there. My understanding is that negotiations are taking place between the city and the county, with a focus on determining how many whole-time equivalent positions serve the transition areas and transferring that number over. The negotiations were to have been completed by now, but I understand that there may be white smoke halfway through the first quarter of the new year. I am concerned that the original deadlines have not been met. The time for concluding the negotiations and then seeking expressions of interest in February will not make matters impossible, but it will be tight, given that the new arrangements will come into place at the end of May or beginning of June. I will be watching the new deadlines like a hawk.

I wish to raise a number of points about the fire service, including the Cork city fire service. Its staffing level stands at 140, with operational firefighter numbers the same today as they were in 1975. The Minister of State has raised his eyebrow, but that information comes from a reliable source. International best practice calls for 1.031 firefighters per 1,000 people. Under a section 85 agreement dating to 1999, the city fire service has duties and responsibilities that extend into the county, including the transition areas that are being transferred into the city, but they are the responsibilities of a backup service for the county fire service, which has lead responsibility in those areas. It is not good enough to say that the Cork city fire service has responsibility for those transition areas in any case, given that there will be an increase in the level of responsibility from backup service to lead service.

If the numbers were to remain at 140 with the extra population coming into the city as a result of the transfer, the number of firefighters per 1,000 of the population would fall to 0:66, which is a bit higher than Poland and a bit lower than Slovakia. It is too low and is unacceptable. I am not in favour of boosting the city's numbers at the expense of the county and leaving fire services in the county short. What should be looked at here is an increase in the number of firefighters for services that are already depleted by austerity and that have been stretched in recent years. I want to register that a dip in the numbers in the city fire service to a ratio somewhere between that of Poland and that of Slovakia is not acceptable. I do not think it would be acceptable to firefighters or the people in the area. I stress that I am not in favour of strengthening one at the expense of the other. Recruitment is something that needs to be looked at. I was going to make some points about the electoral register and directly elected mayors but time is ticking and we have another important debate tonight so I will save those points for another day.

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