A report recommended major reform of fire services five years ago - but key findings were never implemented, writes Martin Wall, Industry Correspondent.
The tragic deaths of firefighters Brian Murray and Mark O'Shaughnessy in Bray on Wednesday has put the Government under pressure for its handling of the reform programme for the fire service nationally.
Trade unions and the main Opposition parties have demanded to know why the key findings of a major consultants' report five years ago, which recommended tackling the fragmented nature of fire services in Ireland, were never implemented.
Reports yesterday that Brian Murray had warned only last week that a firefighter or member of the public would die by the end of the year unless the service was overhauled, only added to the determination of the Opposition to highlight the issue publicly.
In its principal recommendation, the Farrell Grant Sparks report on the fire service proposed that a new centralised National Authority for Fire and Civil Protection/Emergency Services be put be in place. This proposed body would take overall charge of resources, equipment and training of fire personnel.
However this finding was rejected by the previous government largely, it is understood, because it did not want to establish another "quango" in the area of public administration.
Department of the Environment sources said yesterday that "major elements" of the report in relation to the health, safety and welfare of firefighters had been introduced. However they acknowledged that the key issue of consistency of service around the country remained to be addressed.
This is now to be tackled by Minister of State for the Environment Tony Killeen, who was delegated responsibility for the fire service on Wednesday, ironically and coincidentally just as the news was breaking about the tragedy in Bray.
While the consultants' report maintained that there was no compelling evidence of widespread unacceptable risk posed by the current system, it was nonetheless highly critical of the existing arrangements.
And although it stressed that it did not want to raise public concerns, some of its revelations were alarming.
At present, responsibility for fire services nationwide is divided between 37 different local authorities - which the report concluded was far too many.
Perhaps inevitably it found that there were widespread variations in the standards of fire cover provided.
There was too much leeway for subjective or even ad hoc assessments of needs in relation to issues such as response times, crew levels or equipment.
However it also pointed out that there was no third party monitoring of existing arrangements.
It said the Department of the Environment, which effectively funds the service through its grants to local authorities and allocations for capital expenditure, had an advisory role and did not have the authority to inspect performance or standards.
The report described the relationship between the department and the local authority fire services as "very ambiguous", ranging from controlling in relation to capital funding to "very distant" when it came to operational matters.
"The current system, whereby there are no norms, where no agreed common processes exist and wherein there is no monitoring of compliance and performance is not, we believe, a sustainable proposition into the future in this critical safety field," it said.
However sustainable or not, the existing structures have continued unchanged in the five years since the report was published.
It is expected that the second phase of its fire service change programme would examine how consistency could be achieved given the decision of the previous administration not to establish a centralised National Fire Authority.
Both the Opposition and trade unions have criticised the Government over its failure to implement the main elements of the report.
Impact, which represents chief fire officers in local authorities, said that its members were "frustrated" at the pace of the implementation of the findings.
A spokesman said that although a number of committees had been established, senior fire officers were dissatisfied that the process was taking so much time.
Matt Merrigan, national secretary of Siptu, also said that his members were extremely frustrated at the failure of the department to implement the report.
In addition to the structural issues, he said that Siptu wanted to see movement in relation to career progression. He said that at present only qualified engineers could become chief fire officers.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny raised the report in the Dáil yesterday while the party's leader in the Seanad, Frances Fitzgerald said that it was "simply unacceptable that no action has been taken on this issue".
Tánaiste Brian Cowen said the first phase of the fire service modernisation programme, which initially focused on health, safety and welfare issues, had been completed and the other matters were ongoing between the fire service and local authorities.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said a national fire authority might address the possibility of setting up a full-time fire service, as distinct from a part-time service, in larger urban areas. This issue has been a source of major controversy for some time in Bray - where the two fire fighters who died on Wednesday were based.
For in addition to the fragmented nature of fire services generally, it is also divided between those provided by full-time personnel, generally in the cities, and by part-time "retained" firefighters, mainly in more rural areas.
It is acknowledged that it would be impractical to have a full-time fire service everywhere. However the consultants' report warned that changes would be needed in this area too, given the decline in voluntary activity by people generally and the unhappiness of some employers in releasing staff for fire-service duties. It suggested that retained personnel might be rostered for availability for parts of the day rather than 24/7 as at present.
Merrigan said there were also practical difficulties faced by retained firefighters who have to be able to reach the fire station within five minutes - they have no right to break speed limits or red lights.
In Swords and Malahide in north Dublin, agreements were reached between Siptu and the local authority to compensate staff affected.