Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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70. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of funding requests his Department received from Tipperary County Council towards purchasing additional fire appliances in the years 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024; of the funding requests received, the number that were approved per year in tabular form. [9540/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department supports fire authorities by establishing policy, setting national standards for fire safety and fire service provision, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects and the procurement of essential frontline fire appliances, ancillary vehicles and equipment.

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, 31 local authorities 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 217 fire stations nationwide, with 16 of these stations staffed by full-time firefighters, a further 4 are mixed full-time and retained, and 197 are staffed by retained firefighters.

In December 2020 I announced a five-year Fire Services Capital Programme under which a total of 35 “Class B” fire appliances were allocated across the fire authorities. It was envisaged that through an extension of that framework an additional allocation of appliances would be proposed for the period 2024-2025. Unfortunately, due to COVID and issues in the market such as the lengthening of supply chains and cost inflation, the previous framework became unviable economically for the commercial partners. My Department re-engaged with the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) and established a new framework for the provision of fire appliances. The three successful tenderers were HPMP Ltd. (Carlow), Sídheán Teo. (Galway), and Emergency One (UK) Ltd. (Scotland). The new Framework commenced with the awarding of contracts for the supply of the revised number of 40 “Class B Fire” appliances, at a cost of some €20.8 million, from 18 October 2023, to be allocated across the country's 27 Local Authority and Rescue Services. It is envisaged that contracts will be divided in three tranches in 2023/2024. Tipperary Fire and Rescue Service have been allocated 2 appliances under this programme.

The previous joint procurement programme which ran from 2018-2020 supplied 23 new appliances to 20 local authorities at a cost of approximately €9.2 million. Tipperary Fire and Rescue Service received 2 appliance under this programme.

In the years in question Tipperary Fire and Rescue Service also submitted requests for the following equipment and vehicles all of which were approved.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to the reply to Question No. 343 on 20 February 2024 which sets out the position in this matter.