Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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245. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the funding allocated to Mayo County Council for fire services in each of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, in tabular form. [45979/24]

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 Act 1981. My Department 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 priority infrastructural projects.

In December 2020, I announced the Fire Services Capital Programme for the period 2021-2025, with a funding allocation of €61m. Following extensive engagement with fire authorities, a number of proposals for station works etc. were received. The proposals were evaluated and prioritised on the basis of the:

• Area Risk Categorisation of the fire station (population, fire risks, etc.);
• established Health and Safety needs;
• state of development of the project (suitable site acquired, etc.);
• value for money offered by the proposal; and
• the totality of requests from all authorities.