Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his comments and I will bring them to the attention of the Minister concerned. I regret the loss of anybody's life, and particularly the two people who died while responding to an incident.

In regard to the potential impact of these proposals on staff working in the fire services, should matters arise at the implementation stage which could affect the terms and conditions of employees they will be dealt with through the national directorate's consultative committee, at which unions, including SIPTU and IMPACT, are represented. I take the Senator's point, however. Some policies included retained firemen who, while they would not be officially firemen, were trained and available to respond in the event of a serious fire. Whatever complement of personnel our fire services need to respond to a fire should be assigned. I cannot envisage a situation arising under the Minister's proposal where that will not obtain. There will always be adequate and proper cover for any fire. Clearly, however, a chimney fire would not require as many responders as a major industrial or commercial incident.