Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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1168. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to introduce a new computer aided call taking and dispatch system called NMAC; the consultation that took place on the proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18823/25]

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 Services Act, 1981 & 2003. My Department supports fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding support for equipment and priority infrastructural projects. Fire services issues are managed in my Department by the National Directorate for Fire & Emergency Management (NDFEM).

The arrangements for mobilising a response to a 999/112 call from the public for fire service assistance are handled at three Regional Communications Centres, where call-takers establish the location and nature of the emergency and then mobilise the nearest geographical resource to the location of the incident based on projected speed of arrival to the scene.

The National Mobilisation and Communications System (NMACS) is a dedicated and exclusive system for the receipt of emergency fire calls, fire incident management and the deployment of fire resources. NMACS is operated by Limerick City & County Council on a shared service basis. This system is live for all counties in Munster and is scheduled to go-live in the West Region during 2025, replacing the existing legacy system. NMACS provides enhanced and resilient fire emergency call taking capability, integrating the three Regional Communications Centres on a single interoperable platform operated to a common standard.

My Department provides funding to Limerick City & County Council with the NMACS project lead reporting to the NDFEM Board on the operation of the call taking and mobilising service provided.

Senior fire service managers in all regions are fully engaged, on an ongoing basis, in the project, throughout its development, procurement and implementation in the Munster Region and the planned migration in the Western and Eastern regions, while personnel from each of the three regional control centres are part of the core testing and development teams for the system.