Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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411. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the percentage of the funding currently remaining under the fire services 2021-2025 capital programme. [36822/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Fire Services Capital Programme forms part of my Department’s strategy to support local authorities in the development and maintenance of quality firefighting and rescue services. The Department provides capital funding for the construction and upgrading of priority fire service infrastructure and the procurement of fire appliances and specialised front-line emergency equipment.

I take a strong interest in the allocation of funding and development of fire service resourcing. That is why in December 2020 I announced a €61 million investment programme for our fire services.

The Fire Services Capital Programme provides local authorities the certainty that the priority projects identified, subject to final agreement on scope and design, will be brought to tender and construction stage, on a phased basis within the lifetime of the programme.

Covid-19 slowed progress in both the infrastructural and fleet support activities of the Fire Services Capital Programme. Significant supply chain issues and cost inflation in the construction sector has led to an increase in funding required to meet the costs of the intended Fire services Capital Programme of renewal and refurbishment.

Supply chain issues also affected the delivery of new fire appliance chassis with wait times extending to 24 months. Maintenance of a reliable front-line response fleet in optimal condition is a key national priority measure and a commitment to strengthening emergency response capacities. To mitigate against any deterioration in the front-line emergency fleet, I established a new Joint Procurement Framework agreement with the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) for the supply of fire appliances. This second allocation of an additional 40 new fire appliances across our 27 fire authorities was announced in October 2023, at a total estimated cost of €20.8m.

To date, the Fire Services Programme 2021 – 2025 has supported fire services with €63.9 million in funding with profiling of an additional €16.3 million in funding to year end 2024, exceeding the initially announced level of investment support.