Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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430. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of requests his Department has received from Dublin City Council seeking funding to purchase additional emergency fire appliances in 2022 and to date in 2023; and the number of requests received that were approved, pending or refused in each of the years in question, in tabular form. [23084/23]

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 and progressing legislation, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding support for priority infrastructural projects, emergency vehicles and ancillary equipment.

In August 2022, the Department received a request for funding assistance from Dublin City Council (DCC) for funding of two new Emergency Tenders and two new Class B appliances.

All requests for funding from my Department’s Fire Services Capital Programme are considered within the constraints of available resources and have regard to local authorities’ own priorities, consistency with national policy, the value for money offered by proposals and the totality of requests from fire authorities.

My Department funds new fire appliances under national procurement programmes. In June 2022, the 2021 – 2023 Office of Government Procurement (OGP) Joint Procurement Framework for Class B appliances closed for new applications following the full allocation of all thirty-five (35) appliances, including four (4) to Dublin City Council.

An extension of the 2021 – 2023 joint procurement framework was not possible given the nature of the fixed price contract agreed and the pressures put upon the framework suppliers by the significant inflation of costs associated with the supply of chassis and build phase of Class B appliances following the frameworks agreement in 2021.

My Department has been working closely with the OGP on a new multi-supplier framework for the supply of Class B fire appliances. That request for tenders competition is currently live on eTenders and pending the outcome of that competition, I would expect allocations from a new multi-supplier national framework to be issued in the coming months.

A proposal for two new emergency tenders has been approved in principle and my Department will make a final determination on grant assistance once a specific proposal has been received from Dublin City Council.

A direct proposal for funding from DCC to procure two Class B chassis was approved in February 2023; subsequent clarification indicated that it would be difficult to complete the necessary work on those vehicle chassis under existing public procurement guidelines. Following discussions with senior officials within Dublin Fire Brigade a decision was made to fold the request for funding of two new Class B appliances into the upcoming 2023 – 2025 OGP joint procurement framework allocation for DCC.

A summary table of the requests from DCC for the period in question is set out below:

Since July 2021, my Department has provided in excess of €3 million in capital funding to DCC to support the purchase of emergency vehicles and ancillary equipment. Including,

• 4 x Class B Fire appliances,
• 2 x new aerial appliances
• 2 x Pre-owned aerial appliances
• 2 x Support vehicles
• RTA rescue tools
• Thermal Imaging cameras