Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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667. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of fire personnel stationed in County Louth. [51302/19]

Damien English (Meath West, 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 and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Act, 1981. My Department supports fire authorities through setting general policy and progressing legislation, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding support for equipment and priority infrastructural projects.

The prioritisation and effective management of all resources is, in the first instance, a matter for each of the fire authorities based on their assessment of local needs and requirements.

Louth Fire Service has five fire stations at Ardee, Carlingford, Drogheda, Dundalk, and Dunleer which are staffed by five Senior Fire Officers, 55 full-time firefighters and 30 retained firefighters.