Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senators who participated in the debate on Second and Committee Stages. Amendments tabled by the Government were important and I thank the House for accepting them unanimously. The amendments which have been approved here will be considered by the Dáil as soon as possible and the Bill will hopefully be enacted at an early date.

I wish to respond to an issue which is in the public domain today and which was raised during the debate by Senator Kitt. The Senator highlighted the fact that while Ireland is reported to suffer one of the highest international levels of fatality resulting from fire, it has one of the lowest levels of expenditure on fire services. I thank the Chair for its indulgence and I am glad of the opportunity to urge caution, as does the report in question, in making international comparisons.

It is not easy to compare like with like. The source of the statistics in the report on Irish fatality figures added an arbitrary 24% for cases which may not have been reported. This was also done in the cases of some other countries while the comparative expenditure figures outlined are similarly fraught given the different tasks undertaken by fire services in different countries. Like is not being compared with like necessarily. It is interesting that the report shows that the four highest per capita spending countries have, nevertheless, relatively high levels of fire fatalities. However, one life lost is one too many and we must do whatever it takes, including spending more money, to reduce fatalities.

The greatest benefit is to be gained through targeting preventative measures at households. In the period 1980 to 2002, inclusive, there was a capital investment of €177 million in fire services. Over 130 new or refurbished fire stations were provided, over 400 fire appliances and other fire fighting emergency and rescue equipment was purchased and the computer aided mobilisation projects, CAMP, were put in place. This year has seen a record allocation of €18.838 million in funding. While there have been some adjustments in the various Estimates, I am happy to confirm that the fire services have maintained the record level of investment of last year. Local fire authorities spend approximately €136 million annually to provide fire and emergency services. I hope that I have provided some clarification to the House.