Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, to the Chamber. This Commencement matter is on the provision of a new fire station in Ballymahon, County Longford, an area with which the Minister of State is very familiar. It is an issue I raised on the Order of Business in February. At present the fire station in Ballymahon is located in a hired out industrial estate in the middle of a housing estate. It is not suitable for a town of its size. It is more than two and a half years since Longford County Council submitted a request for a new fire station for the town. Since then Center Parcs has opened in Ballymahon. It is the biggest tourism infrastructure project in the country. The park attracts between 2,000 and 2,500 visitors to the town each week.

The fire station has nine retained staff. In 2021, there were 53 call outs and there have been more than 30 call outs so far this year. These consist of fires, road traffic collisions, ambulance assists and special services. The firefighters there are trained as cardiac first responders and emergency fire responders. The population of the town has increased yearly since the 2011 census when it was 1,563. In the 2016 census the population was 1,877. It is expected to rise to more than 2,000 in the most recent census. Along with this increase in population there is Center Parcs, Thomond Lodge nursing home and retirement village, a large daycare centre in the town, the Kepak processing plant, which is a large employer in the town, and numerous other units. The town is also home to St. Matthew's Primary School, one of the biggest primary schools in the county. There are also two post-primary schools in the town with Ballymahon Vocational School and the Mercy Secondary School. Ballymahon fire service also covers areas in the boundary of County Westmeath

Longford County Council has identified a site. It is simply incredible to think that a town of this size does not have an up-to-date, up-to-standard fire station. I ask that priority is given to the provision of a fire station for Ballymahon now that a site has been identified. It is in the ownership of Longford County Council.