Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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310. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government how many call-outs of emergency services there were to deal with out-of-control gorse fires nationwide; the costs of same from 1 September 2022 to 28 March 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11409/23]

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 Act, 1981. My Department supports fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding support for equipment and priority infrastructural projects.  

Detailed data on the costs incurred by local authorities fighting gorse and upland fires, is not collected by, and consequently is not available in, my Department. The requested information would be available from the individual local authorities.