Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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269. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the position regarding the development of a new fire station at Crossmolina in County Mayo. [11471/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The provision of fire services 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 the individual fire authorities under the provisions of the Fire Services Act, 1981. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects. In February 2016, my Department announced a five-year Fire Services Capital Programme with an allocation of €40 million, based on the current annual €8 million allocation, to be used for the purchase of fire appliances and specialist equipment, building or upgrading of prioritised Fire Stations, an upgrade of the Communications and Mobilisation system and improvements to Training Centres.

The provision of a new fire station at Crossmolina, Co Mayo has been included as part of this Capital Programme. In light of the fact that this is a priority project for Mayo County Council, my Department is liaising with them to progress it to the next stages of development. While the current indicative year for delivery is 2020, all projects in the Capital Programme are reassessed on an annual basis and priority may be adjusted to bring forward projects offering best value-for-money and to take account of the state of readiness of the projects.