Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Paul Donnelly as ucht an t-ábhar seo. I accept the motion in the spirit in which it is tabled. Anybody who knows me knows that during all my time in the Dáil, I have been a strong and ardent supporter of the Dublin Fire Brigade since well before I took ministerial responsibility for fire and emergency services, a responsibility I have not delegated to a Minister of State and have retained for myself.

I have friends involved in the fire service, as many of us do, and I see the work the crews do on a daily basis. I take this opportunity, as others have done, to recognise, on the day that is in it, the work of all our emergency services and front-line staff, including our fire crews all across the country and, indeed, here in Dublin. As a Dub and like many Dubliners, I am extremely proud of the invaluable fire rescue and ambulance service provided by the Dublin Fire Brigade. The work that is undertaken by the men and women of the brigade, as other speakers have recognised, can be dangerous, physically and mentally demanding and very challenging. It takes a particular kind of brave and dedicated person to take on the role. The Dublin Fire Brigade members and their colleagues in the emergency services throughout the State save lives, first and foremost, and also prevent damage to residential and commercial property. I particularly want to recognise the very difficult circumstances in which our crews have worked through the 22 months of the pandemic. It has been a very challenging time and continues to be so.

I am sure Deputy Donnelly is aware of the following points but I want to raise them for the record of the House. Under the Fire Services Act, it is the statutory function of the fire authorities to provide a fire service in a particular functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of fire brigades, assessment of fire cover and provision of fire station premises. My role in the Department, which I am very serious about, is to support the fire authorities through setting general policy and national standards, providing a central training programme, which I will turn to presently, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and, very importantly, providing capital funding, of which we recently allocated €61 million over the next five years, for equipment, appliances and priority infrastructural projects to meet the needs of a growing population.

I will now deal with some of the issues that are raised in the motion. The Covid pandemic has presented challenges to the Dublin Fire Brigade in respect of recruitment and training of new staff, which has resulted in particular staff shortages at this time. There is no question about that. However, my Department, as instructed by me, together with Dublin City Council, is actively engaging to address this issue and see how we can expedite the recruitment programme. Covid has presented a difficulty in terms of the length of time training is taking. It bears repeating, however, that, despite the pandemic, recruitment and training is ongoing in the O'Brien Institute in Marino and other training centres. As I travel around the country, I make it my business to visit fire crews and paramedics, whether in North Strand or Swords, Ballybay or Ennis. This motion is timely in that it recognises the work they do.

The most recent firefighter recruitment campaign began in September 2019, as Deputies know, and the first class of recruits began training in April 2020. It is detailed and tough training and there is a time constraint in that regard. The second recruitment class started in June 2021 and will finish in December, with 36 recruits taking up positions. Deputy Donnelly may not be aware that a third recruitment class of 45 will begin training in early 2022, with provision within the Dublin City Council budget for a fourth class of the remaining panelled recruits later in 2022. We need to make up the gap the Deputy spoke about, and that is planned for and is happening. Funding was mentioned in the context of delivering overall additional staff positions. To be clear, the issue of staff shortages is not just a funding one. Firefighters and paramedics are not just hired; there is an extensive recruitment and training process. I encourage everyone, with the permission of the Dublin Fire Brigade, to visit the training centres and see the extensive training undertaken by recruits. That training takes time and the fire brigade management must follow a process.

It should be clearly understood that there a number of issues at play at this time in respect of the Dublin Fire Brigade. Dublin City Council, as the employer, has been engaged in an extended process with firefighter representative bodies, including both Fórsa and SIPTU, at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. There has been some progress in a number of areas. I am very glad of that and I continue to watch the matter very closely. There is not a week that goes by when I am not in contact with someone in the fire brigade, its management or somebody in Dublin City Council. Some of that progress would alleviate the pressures caused by current staffing arrangements but no final agreement has yet been reached. In an attempt to break the impasse, a proposal was made on 17 November and a response is awaited. The most important thing at this point is to get all parties to re-engage with the established statutory industrial machinery in order to achieve a resolution without delay. I believe such a resolution is achievable. I will deal presently with issues relating to the Department of Health. I take this opportunity strongly to urge all parties to re-enter that process in good faith. I am confident the remaining issues are capable of being resolved.

My Department and I continue to work with the Dublin Fire Brigade on issues and to provide support. Last week, during the normal course of my duties and in advance of this motion being tabled, I met the Minister for Health in an attempt to make progress around the provision of ambulance services by the Dublin Fire Brigade on behalf of the National Ambulance Service, NAS. A long-standing issue that is nearly resolved is the use of one combined system but involving separate locations. The Duffy report provides the way for this to be resolved, as I reiterated at the meeting last week. I am of the firm belief that an equitable solution can be met. I am an unequivocal supporter of the Dublin Fire Brigade retaining its emergency services role. I want to be really clear about that. There are synergies and our crews in the NAS also do incredible work. We want to make sure the call and dispatch system is uniform.

In the short time remaining, I want to respond to the further points that were raised. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, will wrap up the debate and give the final response from the Government. We are not opposing the motion. A significant portion of it is very similar to the motion I brought forward in the previous Oireachtas, which was supported by all parties. We want to move this forward.

For the two minutes that are left to me, I will talk briefly about funding. Local authorities across the country have a yearly budget of approximately €240 million to run fire services. That budget is supplemented by my Department's fire services capital programme, which provides for investment in appliances, vehicles, equipment, upgrading of existing stations and construction of new stations. In December 2020, I announced a new fire services capital programme for the period from then until 2025, with an allocation of €61 million. Following extensive engagements with fire authorities, a number of proposals for station works appliances were received, evaluated and prioritised. Nationally, the new programme will see six new fire stations built and continued support for the further construction of an additional 12, nine fire station refurbishments and 35 new fire engines.

In Dublin specifically, as part of the 2020 fire services capital plan, Dublin Fire Brigade will receive six new class B appliances. It should be noted that these appliances are not bought off the shelf. They are constructed on order, which involves a lead time. I am pleased to say that Dublin Fire Brigade took delivery of two new class B appliances very recently and is finalising local upskilling in order that the tenders can be in service before Christmas. Two additional new appliances are due for delivery early in the new year. In addition, a new turntable ladder is due to be delivered in January and an additional turntable ladder has been sanctioned by my Department. As part of the 2020 five-year capital services plan - this is really important as we see the region expanding - we are looking at where new stations need to be located and where the capacity of existing stations needs to be increased to deal with the rise in population.

I am heavily invested in the issues relating to Dublin Fire Brigade and I want them to be resolved. The motion is useful and helpful. By engagement through the existing machinery and by placing a real focus on this matter, we can bring some of the outstanding issues to resolution. I want to be clear - and I am sure the House speaks as one on this - that we firmly support the provision of emergency services in Dublin by Dublin Fire Brigade and their colleagues in other front-line services such as the National Ambulance Service. We want to make sure that continues and that the services are funded into the future. We can bridge the recruitment gap that has been impacted by Covid. Those with a fair view from the outside looking in will understand that the pandemic has been an issue in the context of how we can bring in new recruits. We will be expediting two further recruitment classes.

As I said, I am not able to respond to the motion. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, will reply to the debate towards the end. I thank Deputies for their contributions.

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