Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

272. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update regarding his Department's review of Dublin Fire Brigade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11013/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department has not undertaken any review of Dublin Fire Brigade.

The Department’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management maintains routine contact with Dublin City Council’s Fire Brigade, which provides fire services on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities. The role of the National Directorate is to develop and support the provision of consistent and effective fire services in Ireland; in that context, the policy document Keeping CommunitiesSafe, (KCS) was published in February 2013.

KCS has introduced national norms and standards for fire services for the first time in Ireland. The approach set out is in line with international best practice and local authority fire service provision can now be benchmarked against these national norms and standards. As a first step, each fire service has undertaken an ‘Area Risk Categorisation’ (ARC) process as recommended in KCS. This is based on analysis of relevant data-sets for each fire station area, with areas being graded across five bands from very high to very low risk categories in accordance with the evidence. Fire services are using a risk management approach, which includes fire prevention and fire protection in buildings as well as response in terms of numbers of fire appliances and fire crews in an area, to manage the identified fire risk.

An external validation of the ARC process has been undertaken by the National Directorate to ensure that it is carried out consistently by all fire services. This validation process involves a one-day review of the draft ARC prepared by each authority. The ARC process for the Dublin area has been undertaken by the management of Dublin Fire Brigade area and the process has been validated by the National Directorate. The conclusions reached through the ARC process are as determined by Dublin Fire Brigade management.

The National Directorate’s involvement is a validation process and is not a review of Dublin Fire Brigade. I am confident however that the process is contributing to the development of high quality and effective fire services for the people of the Dublin area.