City fire service may be on move

The location of the new city bypass route will also have to be factored in to any new fire brigade base on the east of the city, the Council was told on Monday night.

County Council Director of Services, Peter Gavican – who oversees the fire service for the city and county – told councillors that any decision on a move of the fire brigade base would not be taken until the completion of a national report on the service.

He said that one of the options that could be looked at was the provision of two smaller stations rather than one larger single unit.  Cllr Declan McDonnell said that councillors wanted to know whether any progress had been made in relation to the relocation of the fire service to the east of the city in the Ballybane area.

According to Cllr. Terry O’Flaherty, moves to relocate the main fire brigade base on the city seemed to have been ‘parked’ – she wanted an update on the current position.

However, any move east was opposed by Claddagh councillor, Catherine Connolly, who said that it was important to retain the fire brigade base at its current location.

“What I would like to get is confirmation that the station will remain in the Claddagh,” said Cllr. Connolly.

Mayor Frank Fahy wanted more information on the number of ‘four by four’ vehicles being used by the fire brigade and also enquired about a vehicle ‘bought at astronomical cost that had to be resprayed’.

Galway Fire Chief Michael Raftery who addressed councillors at last week's meeting, said that no vehicle was bought at an ‘astronomical cost’ and defended the use of ‘four by four’ vehicles.

“The four by four vehicles are a very versatile vehicle for the fire service, especially in flood situations or when dealing with forest, bog or gorse fires,” said Mr. Raftery.

Cllr. Niall McNelis said that over 50% of the workload of fire brigade staff involved paperwork in the courts dealing with licences. “Do we have enough fire brigade staff available to do the work,” asked Cllr. McNelis.