€4million has been allocated to Carlow County Fire & Rescue Service for the future development of the Hacketstown Training & Development Centre.
Last evening’s Tullow Municipal District meeting heard that an application to the National Directorate for Fire & Emergency Management for the capital funds was successful and will see a number of projects developed in a bid to provide the latest modern day facilities to meet training needs for firefighters from across Ireland.
2025 was the busiest year on record at the Hacketstown facility with over 1,200 personnel involved in 346 days of training completing QQI Firefighting Skills, QQI Breathing Apparatus, QQI Compartment Fire Behaviour, Pump Operator, Confined Spaces, Working at Heights, Road Traffic Collision, Emergency First Responder and Cardiac First Responder training courses.
This year firefighters from Fire Authorities across Ireland have been trained in Hacketstown in addition to firefighters from Dublin Airport Fire & Rescue Service, The Irish Defence Forces and the Irish Air Corps. The training centre has also been used by the NDFEM to train the latest national instructors for Compartment Fire Behaviour training and 133 days have already been booked for 2026.
A/Chief Fire Officer Ben Woodhouse: ‘I’m delighted to announce this great news for our training centre at Hacketstown and the local community following 18 months of preliminary project appraisal, research of other training centres in the UK and preparing a business case application for capital funding to present to the NDFEM. The Hacketstown Training & Development Centre has become a leading training facility for Ireland and I wish to acknowledge the previous success and development having been derived and led by previous Carlow County Chief Fire Officers, County trainers and the staff at the Hacketstown Fire Station dating back to the early 2000’s. I’m both proud and excited to now lead our County Fire Service, this strategic project and the training centre into the next phases of development and into the future. Not only do we deliver excellent training in Hacketstown for those who hire the centre along with our own Carlow firefighters but the activity at the training centre brings firefighters from across Ireland to Co Carlow, Hacketstown and the local area supporting jobs, local businesses, accommodation providers and the overall local economy. Through my research and the awareness of the latest impacts of our training activities it is evident that we need to develop our facilities to not only improve quality of training for firefighters to meet modern day challenges in fire service operations but also to improve the local environment for the people who live, work, socialise and attend education facilities in the vicinity of the training centre. Carbonaceous fire training is essential to provide realistic environments for firefighters to experience and train in to prepare them for fires they may face when responding to calls. This type of training however also impacts our locality due to smoke travelling across the town which varies with prevailing winds and varying climates. Part of this funding will provide the first fully enclosed carbonaceous fire training facility in Ireland with smoke capture, management and filtration significantly reducing smoke being emitted, CO2 emissions and improve health and safety for learners and trainers alike. The development will also provide a new training tower, site perimeter fencing, an underground confined space training facility, conversion of a training building to artificial heat non carbonaceous via LPG, welfare facilities, car parking, site lighting and other proposed buildings to house training fire appliances, security and administration for the centre.
“I wish to thank the NDFEM for trusting and supporting my strategic vision for the Hacketstown Training & Development Centre and I look forward to working with the County Fire Service colleagues, Carlow County Council sections, Hacketstown Fire Station crew, the Tullow MD Elected Members and our local communities to develop a training centre for the present with foresight for training delivery into the future.’
The project will now enter planning, consultation and procurement processes.
Ben Woodhouse spoke to Brian Redmond on The KCLR Daily about the announcement.
