A new fire station has been approved for Waterford City with the allocation of funds from Budget 2013. Around €2 million has been allocated for the project out of the capital expenditure budget, which has a total fund of  €3.4 billion for next year. Waterford City Fire Service is currently located on Catherine Street but will relocate to a site in Kilbarry where a new state-of-the-art premises will be built. This is also good news for Waterford City Courthouse, which hopes to expand its services to the old fire station building in the future.

A spokesperson for Waterford City Council said the intention would be to “as quickly as possible go to tender to start on the fire station” in order to allow the court service to expand and proceed with their work. Waterford City Fire Service currently has 52 staff and Niall Curtin, Chief Fire Officer is happy, after six years in the pipeline, that the new station has received go ahead. Mr. Curtin has said the newly located fire station will enhance the already excellent service which the Waterford City Fire Service provide.

It is hoped that construction on the new station will get underway in late spring. The new site is to be located on the Kilbarry Road in the City will mean that the new Fire Station will be situated more appropriately with state of the art facilities. It should be pointed out that emergency services that are currently being delivered on a daily basis by the dedicated and heroic staff at Catherine Street will remain there until the new station is complete.

Fine Gael Waterford Deputy Paudie Coffey has said that the construction of the new station will have a positive impact on Waterford’s local economy. “This is a significant capital investment by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and when completed, it will allow for the extension and refurbishment of Waterford City Court House as both currently are located on the same site. This will have a further positive impact on our City’s economy when it is complete.”, said Deputy Coffey.

“This project is long overdue and it is unfortunate that it has taken until now when the country is financially running a deficit of €250 million a week to get the project off the ground, the people of Waterford have waited 7 years for this new project to tangibly begin. It is pity that previous governments did not see this project as a priority in times of plenty and the current Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan TD should be commended for ensuring that this shovel ready project began as quickly as possible.”