Operational fire station needed for Cork town
Sinn Féin councillor for Cork City South West, Joe Lynch said the forthcoming publication of the Cork City Fire Cover Review must deliver an operational fire station for Ballincollig which has now been shut since November 2021.
In response to a recent Council motion on the publication of the review, Cork City Council management stated that the Fire Cover Review will be published in late May or early June at the latest.
Senior management within the local authority also confirmed that the review will assess how to provide the most effective and efficient fire service to the people of Cork, including those in the extended boundary area.
Cllr Lynch said the people of Ballincollig have been 'denied' the service they were initially promised when the boundaries were withdrawn. 'It is now three and a half years since the doors of Ballincollig fire station were shut. Throughout that time, we in Ballincollig have been denied the service we were promised when the city boundaries were redrawn. Since my election I have consistently raised the continued closure of our local fire station.'
Cllr Lynch reiterated that the logical thing to do is to re-open the existing fire station in Ballincollig with full-time personnel. 'The forthcoming Fire Cover Review, which Council management now say will be published imminently following months of delay is, we are told, going to set out how Cork City Council is going to provide the most effective and efficient fire service for the people of Cork; including in the expanded city area.
"Within a city with changing needs and more residential development happening in the South West of the city than any other part, it makes absolute sense to re-open the fire station in Ballincollig with full-time personnel; given there is already a station building in-situ,' he added.
'The men and women of Cork City Fire Brigade work day-in, day-out, to keep citizens and communities safe across the city,' said Cllr Lynch. 'This review will play a major role in shaping the service they work in and the service they provide to us all, over the coming years. I eagerly await its publication."
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