Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Brady for raising this issue in which he has had a long-standing interest.

I thank all our fire fighters throughout the length and breadth of the country and acknowledge their hard work, service and commitment. Last Friday, I was fortunate to attend a service marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of my local fire station. Firefighters do tremendous work and the Government is committed to supporting the fire services and the essential and invaluable services they provide in any way we can.

With regard to the fire service in Bray, the provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003. Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each local authority chief executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authorities for which he or she is responsible. It is, therefore, a matter for each individual chief executive to apply for sanction from the Department and, once approved, to recruit and assign staff to specific divisions within the relevant organisation. In the case of Bray, responsibility lies with Wicklow County Council. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government supports fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding support for equipment and priority infrastructure projects.

I understand that Wicklow fire service currently employs 91 people across ten fire stations at Bray, Greystones, Wicklow, Rathdrum, Arklow, Blessington, Dunlavin, Baltinglass, Carnew and Tinahely. In the case of Bray fire station I am informed by Wicklow County Council that a series of early retirements in 2018, resulted in a reduced number of firefighters, as Deputy Brady noted. I understand that Wicklow County Council has been moving to address this issue through the recruitment of four new firefighters in Bray and has attempted to do so for the past 18 months.

A risk assessment completed by the council in March 2019 in relation to the level of staffing at the fire station found that almost half of the firefighters in the station had been recruited relatively recently. For safety reasons, therefore, and to allow the firefighters time to gain experience, a decision was taken by the council not to recruit further new firefighters for the station at that time. Bray fire station currently has a crew of eight and is operational as a station with one fire engine. I am informed that there have not been any issues turning out a full crew to all incidents and there has been no impact on public safety as a result of that reduction. This is due to the fine work of the personnel in Bray fire station, which is augmented as and when required by colleagues in the station in Greystones nearby. It should also be noted that further back-up is available to Bray, if required, from the two full-time crews in Dún Laoghaire, which is also relatively nearby. The additional recruitment of firefighters for Bray fire station is scheduled to commence again in January 2020, which is just a number of weeks away.

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