Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1613. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which part-time or whole-time fire services currently exist throughout the country; the extent to which it is expected to develop these services in the future on a part-time or whole-time basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34844/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The provision of a fire service in local authority areas, including the establishment and maintenance of fire brigades, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the provisions of the Fire Services Act 2001. My Department supports fire authorities through the setting of general policy, provision of training support, issue of guidance on operational and other related matters and the provision of capital funding. The provision of fire services by local authorities is based on a risk management approach which involves an analysis of the nature of the fire hazards and the incidence and extent of fires which occur, as well as the fire protection measures in place. The fire services in the cities of Dublin, Cork and Limerick are staffed on a full-time basis; Galway, Waterford, Drogheda and Dundalk have a combined full-time and retained service; fire services in all other communities are provided with the retained staffing system, which operates on the basis of alerting staff in response to 999 calls and mobilising brigades. All fire services, full-time and retained, are mobilised on the basis of pre-determined attendances (PDAs), which set out the number and type of fire appliances and the associated crews, to be dispatched initially to the incident. The PDA depends on the type of incident and its location and may be varied by the Incident Commander.

In February 2013, Keeping Communities Safe(KCS)was published which, as national policy, is intended to keep fire safety and fire services in Ireland in line with international best practice. For the first time in Ireland, KCS sets out national norms and standards for fire services with a view to achieving consistency in fire service provision. KCS provides for fire services remaining as part of local authorities, but service delivery is to be reshaped from the current 30 fir e services to 21 service delivery units.

KCS is based on a risk management approach, which addresses the critical elements of fire prevention and fire protection within buildings as well as response by fire brigades. Each fire service is currently undertaking an initial risk categorisation process for its functional area and will prepare a new Fire and Emergency Operations Plan as required by section 26 of the Fire Services Act, 1981 and 2003. The section 26 Plan, when adopted by the local authority members, shows the provision made in respect of fire service organisation, appliances, equipment, fire stations, training, operational procedure and any such matters as may be relevant, such as staffing arrangements.