Twenty years after the Tribunal of Inquiry on the Stardust at Artane published its findings, some key recommendations on improving the fire service have not been implemented.

The fire services are "creaking" and the public is not getting as good a service as it thinks, according to one of the most senior fire officers in the State.

Mr Michael Fitzsimons, chairman of the Chief Fire Officers' Association, also said regulations were being broken in public venues throughout the country "every night of the week" and the fire services did not have the manpower to inspect premises.

A key factor, he said, was the failure of the Government to take central responsibility for fire safety. At the moment responsibility for fire services lies with each local authority. The 1981 tribunal report said individual brigades could respond adequately only if "control and direction by central Government [was] ensured". It recommended that the 1981 Fire Services Act should be amended to confer the responsibility "expressly on the Minister" and a national fire services inspectorate established.

"The fact that it is up to each local authority gives rise to different levels of cover being provided around the country," Mr Fitzsimons said this week. "With changing demographics the services have to adapt. The structure has not changed significantly since the Fire Services Act in 1940."

He said that while the major cities had a corps of full-time fire fighters, rural areas relied on retained fire fighters. In the past this was sufficient as the retained fighters worked near their homes. Today many are likely to work longer hours in their full-time jobs farther away. Effectively, this meant day-time fighters "are not available to the same extent", Mr Fitzsimons said.

"I wouldn't say the public is necessarily in danger but the services are creaking, and reinvigorating the services to adapt to the changes undoubtedly requires central planning."

Mr Michael Walsh, deputy chief fire officer at Tara Street Station, said this problem did not apply in Dublin, while the Department of the Environment said the establishment of a national inspectorate "would seriously undermine the local control of the fire service and lead to fire authorities becoming agents of central government". This would run contrary to the Government's policy of "strengthening local government," a spokeswoman said. On enforcing fire safety regulations, Mr Fitzsimons said there had been huge improvements in building regulations since the Stardust disaster, adding that the fire authorities had "draconian powers" as regards ensuring buildings complied with safety regulations.

"Where we have very limited powers however is related to the level of management of buildings, such as the failure of management to ensure exits are open and that there isn't overcrowding."

One of the problems, he added, was that prosecution of a pub or club owner for breach of fire regulations entailed taking a case to the Circuit Court rather than the lower District Court. It is a longer process and means making the defendant, if found guilty, a felon. "A proprietor would lose their drinks licence and their life could be ruined for what might have been a mistake by an employee".

The Department of the Environment is currently reviewing the necessity of prosecuting such cases in the Circuit Court.

Mr Fitzsimons also criticised the Government's failure to act on the 1981 recommendation that a national training centre be set up. At present personnel are seconded for brief periods of weeks to train recruits. "Training is a skill that should be a profession in itself."