CONCERN about the fall off in capital investment in the fire service was expressed at the 38th annual chief fire officers' association conference in Athlone.
Taxpayers' money spent on the fire service must be spent wisely and effectively, delegates were told by Mr Tony McCarthy, chairman of the association.
Mr McCarthy's speech dealt with the development of the fire service over the past 15 years since the Stardust tragedy, including investment in capital works such as fire stations, appliances and training.
He said, however, that the level of capital investment had fallen off in the last few years "from £10.25 million to £4.5 million, and we are concerned the capital investment is not sufficient to bring all our stations up to scratch and to put a proper programme in place for replacing all our appliances."
More than 100 delegates from Ireland are attending the two day conference, as well as delegates from Britain and Europe.
Mr McCarthy said the standards of fire cover were a system to determine the number of fire appliances necessary and the staffing levels required on each fire appliance.
Mr Gunnar Haurum, president of the Danish National Technical Organisation for Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting, and Mr Brian Collins, chief inspector of the British fire services, both spoke on the standards of fire cover and the method of getting better value for money from the fire services.
Mr Haurum praised the Irish fire service.
"I have been here in Ireland very often and I have followed what has happened in the Irish Fire Service in the past 15 years and I must say I'm very impressed by the progress which has happened since the Stardust fire. I think today the Irish fire service can be measured in the same range as most European fire services.
Mr Haurum told the conference that co operation between fire services in the EU takes place on many levels. On the operational side, some fire services cross borders to fire services in neighbouring countries.
Also, he said, EU states cooperate on training because, according to an EU directive, firefighters can work in another country if they have the qualifications and if they can speak the language.
He said there must be value for money from the fire services. "All over the world, the cost of public service is being reduced or must be reduced and unfortunately it also hits the fire services.
"We have worked for a long time on how we can maintain our efficiency if our budgets are being cut. One way we can maintain our efficiency is to help each other and to learn from each other".