William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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248. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount of capital funding his Department provided to Laois County Council for the purchase of fire applicants and or emergency equipment for Laois Fire Services in 2022, 2023, 2024 and to-date in 2025, in tabular form. [16430/25]

James Browne (Wexford, 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 Service Acts, 1981 and 2003.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 such as improvements to the network of fire stations and fire service training centres and the procurement of essential frontline fire appliances, ancillary vehicles and equipment.

In December 2020, Minister O'Brien 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:

The 2021 - 2025 Programme was projected to see six new fire stations built, continued support for the construction of a further 12 new fire stations, nine fire station refurbishments as well as the allocation of 35 new fire appliances. Continued investment in the fire appliance fleet has been identified as a key national priority; that is why, in October 2023, Minister O'Brien announced the allocation of an additional 40 new fire appliances at a cost of €20.8m.

While the Stradbally fire station project was not initially included in my Department's Fire Services Capital programme 2021 - 2025, all projects in the capital programme may be reassessed on an annual basis to maximise the available funding and the priority may be adjusted to bring forward projects offering the best value-for-money and to take account the state of readiness of the projects, based on ongoing engagement with local authorities.

In February of this year the Council was approved to tender for the construction phase of the new Stradbally Fire station project with grant assistance of €3.2 million allocated from the Fire Services Capital programme. My Department is working with Laois County Council to progress the new Stradbally Fire Station in 2025.

The balance of payments on two new Class B fire appliances that profile to approximately €500,000 are scheduled to be delivered in Q3 2025.

From 2022 to present, Laois County Council has been provided funding that is detailed below from the Fire Services Capital Programme.