Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Stanley. He has highlighted well the challenges they face in Rathdowney fire station. It sounds like they have a fantastic crew and great equipment but they need a new building. The first half of my response will be focused on Stradbally. The Deputy will be wondering why the hell I am focusing on Stradbally, but I will put it in context in the second half of the response, if that is okay.

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. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for equipment and priority infrastructural projects.

Project consideration stages from a Department perspective include submission of preliminary and detailed appraisals; submission of design brief; selection of a site; application for approval in principle; appointment of design consultants; submission of a preliminary design; planning application; submission of a preliminary cost plan, detailed design and cost plans; and tender process and construction stages, with each step subject to approval from the Department. The Deputy will have known all this already.

In December 2020, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced the fire services capital plan for the period 2021 to 2025, with a funding allocation of €61 million. Following extensive engagement with fire authorities, a number of proposals for station works, etc., were received. The proposals were evaluated and prioritised on the basis of the area risk categorisation of the fire station, established health and safety needs, state of development of the project, value for money offered by the proposal, and the totality of requests from all authorities.

At that time, Laois County Council had indicated a new fire station at Stradbally to be its number one priority, with the replacement of Rathdowney fire station as its second priority going forward. While the Stradbally fire station project was not initially included in my Department's Fire Services Capital Programme 2021-2025; all projects in the capital programme may be reassessed annually to maximise available capital programme funding, and priority may be adjusted to bring forward projects offering best value for money and to take account the state of readiness of the projects, based on ongoing engagement with local authorities in respect of prioritisation. Subsequently, following reappraisal, approval in principle for a new fire station at Stradbally was conveyed to the council in November 2022. The council approved the tender for design consultants for the project in March 2023 and in February of this year, the council was approved to tender for the construction phase of the Stradbally fire station project. My Department officials are working with Laois County Council to progress a new Stradbally fire station in 2025. That is the situation in Stradbally. In the second half of my response, I will go on to highlight where we are in terms of Rathdowney.

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