Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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246. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the fire cover review for an area (details supplied) and all costings explored. [39816/24]

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 & 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.

In late 2020, Cork City Council commissioned an independent strategic review of the Council’s Fire and Building Control department. A stated core aim of this review was to ensure that Cork City Fire & Building Control department would deliver a safe, efficient and effective service for the people of Cork with the capacity to meet the demand for the projected growth planned over the next 15-20 years.

I am advised that a key element of the review was the undertaking of extensive stakeholder engagement which included staff in the Fire Service and their representative groups. The final strategic review report was published in June 2022. This report made 20 recommendations under three main themes of (i) Strategy and Planning, (ii) Organisation and People (iii) Operations and Processes. A copy of this report is available at,

One of the recommendations in that report is for a complete fire risk review across the city which will identify and inform the most effective use of resources to deliver an efficient Fire Service, meeting both the current and future needs across the entire city of Cork. I understand that review is now underway.