John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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418. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to plans to carry out an independent report or analysis of the fire service in Bray, County Wicklow; if so, the details of this proposed analysis; the terms of reference of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13471/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 Acts, 1981 and 2003. 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 equipment and priority infrastructural projects.

Fire services are provided in Ireland by local authorities in accordance with the provisions of the Fire Services Acts, 1981 and 2003. Under this legislation, there are 31 fire authorities which provide fire prevention and fire protection services for communities through 27 service delivery structures. Local authority fire services are delivered by approximately 3,300 local authority staff engaged at 218 fire stations nationwide, with 16 of these stations being full-time stations, a further 4 are mixed full-time and retained, and 198 retained stations.

My Department was made aware by email in late February 2021 of a proposal to carry out a report/analysis of the provision of fire services in Bray, Co Wicklow. However, it has not been informed of the detail of the proposed analysis or its terms of reference or other documentation in this regard. It is expected that any analysis of fire service provision should have due regard to national standards and guidance set out in the "Keeping Communities Safe" national policy document published in 2013 and take account of support available from adjoining fire services.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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419. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the follow-up process that was due to be carried out by the external validation group commissioned by the management board of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management; the scope of the follow-up process; the terms of reference; if the Directorate engaged with Wicklow Fire Service; when a report from the external validation group will be ready; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13472/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 Acts, 1981 and 2003. My Department, primarily through the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) 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 equipment and priority infrastructural projects.

Fire services are provided in Ireland by local authorities in accordance with the provisions of the Fire Services Acts, 1981 and 2003. At the moment there are 31 fire authorities which provide fire prevention and fire protection services for communities through 27 service delivery structures. Local authority fire services are delivered by approximately 3,300 local authority staff engaged at 218 fire stations nationwide.

Over the course of 2014/2015, an External Validation Group (EVG), commissioned by the Management Board of the NDFEM, visited every fire service in the country as part of a new external validation process arising from implementation of the "Keeping Communities Safe" national policy document. In April 2016, the Management Board published the first EVG Report titled “Local Delivery - National Consistency”. The findings of that process are available on my Department's website at the following link:

This first EVG report was a welcome benchmark of local authority provision of fire services in Ireland, and reviewed a number of themes. For the first time, it reported on the matching of provision of fire services with assessed fire risk. It reviewed fire safety work and undertook an assessment of the impact of national guidance on safety, health and welfare of staff in fire services. The Report concluded that the public are served well by the locally authority provided fire service arrangements and can retain confidence in the integrity and professionalism of those with responsibility for managing and delivering fire safety and fire services in Ireland.

In May 2019, the Management Board of NDFEM considered a proposal for a second round of external validation, or EVG II. Stakeholder engagement was undertaken in preparation for a thematic review process, which was scheduled to commence in Q1 2020. However, due to Covid-19, the Board made a decision to postpone this process.

As an alternative, the Board mandated staff in the NDFEM to undertake a review of the impact of Covid-19 on local authority fire service resilience and response, as well as on fire safety work and to look at fire services roles in supporting Covid-related emergency management. The objective was to capture issues arising, lessons to be learned and good practice which worked during the first phase of Covid-19 response, so that essential services could continue to be maintained in case of further surges.

This review was undertaken by means of ‘virtual visits’ (i.e. by Webex link) to each of the 27 fire services and three Regional Communications Centres. This ‘virtual’ process was undertaken by an NDFEM team, working in association with Chief Fire Officers and their staff and local authority executives. These visits were undertaken between the 24th of June and the 22nd of September 2020. A composite report on themes related to the impact of Covid-19 on fire services was compiled and presented to the NDFEM Management Board in October 2020.

The position in relation to undertaking an EVG II will be kept under review by the NDFEM Management Board, taking account of the virtual experience of the response and resilience study and in light of the evolving Covid-19 situation.