Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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489. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the boundary changes within the Kildare fire service, notably Athy; and if these changes were reportedly made by using Google maps. [55362/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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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, the provision of a premises and the making of such other provisions as it considers necessary or desirable, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the provisions of the Fire Services Act 1981.

In February 2013 I published Keeping Communities Safe (KCS) as national policy for the future direction of fire services in Ireland. The document was prepared by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management in my Department through a collaborative process, which included consultation with stakeholders. The intention is to ensure that Ireland continues to manage its fire risk effectively in accordance with current international best practice and that the successful approaches to fire safety, under which the downward trend in the level of fire loss recorded annually, continues.

Keeping Communities Safe (KCS) confirms that the nearest available resource (in terms of speed of arrival) should be deployed to emergency incidents irrespective of administrative boundaries. It is expected that each fire service will undertake a review in the context of the recommendations contained in Keeping Communities Safe and, where any changes are required, decisions on these will be for the relevant local authority to make, in this case Kildare County Council.