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

In December 2024, Laois County Council submitted an updated preliminary appraisal for a proposed new fire station at Rathdowney, noting several issues with the existing station, including, as the Deputy highlighted, the accessibility of the site for responding firefighters due to its central location on a narrow street within Rathdowney, the station's limited size and poor layout and the limited welfare facilities, particularly in the context, following the August 2023 Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, agreement with retained firefighters, of the increase to 12 in optimal crew numbers at fire stations. The Deputy also made a point with regard to female firefighters and the difficulty and lack of facilities in that regard.

Laois County Council has indicated a new fire station for Rathdowney to be its number one priority project for the fire services capital programme 2026 to 2030, which I think the Deputy will accept is good news. The council has secured a new site, which I am hoping is the one the Deputy referenced, and this new site it regards as ideally situated with regard to the road network and traffic flow while retaining a central location close to the retained crews' living and working environments.

My Department will be identifying new priority fire service infrastructural projects for 2026 to 2030 in the coming months. Officials from my Department will work closely with county councils to progress their identified priority infrastructural projects within the context of the totality of requests from fire authorities countrywide for capital funding. The good news is that this is Laois County Council's new priority. We will work closely with it in identifying the need. Clearly, it is its number one need now. The Deputy has indicated and the council has indicated that a site has been identified. I totally appreciate the Deputy's point and think this copy and paste approach could serve us well in a lot of areas, not just building fire stations. I appreciate there is a design and plan done. I am not sure and cannot see right now whether that can circumvent the different terms of the different stages, but I can certainly talk to the Department about whether that will help to progress it faster.

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