Specialised stress management counselling is to be made available to firefighters in Kerry who are dealing with an increasing number of road traffic accidents involving death and serious injury, according to Kerry County Council's director of services, Oliver Ring.
There are a small number of full-time fire officials, but the majority of 140 firefighters in Kerry work on a part-time basis, with 27 of this number working as volunteers.
For the past 18 months, general counselling services have been available to firefighters, according to senior assistant chief fire officer, Donal Guerin. "The vast majority have never had counselling," he said.
Members of Kerry's fire service are debriefed after attending to serious accidents. These sessions helped firefighters to deal with the situations they had just faced, he felt.
"That was as close as we ever got to it [ counselling]", Mr Guerin said.
Mr Ring said the number of road traffic incidents requiring assistance from the fire service had increased. Last year, there was 21 road deaths in the county, compared to 13 in 2005.
"These incidents can have implications for the health and wellbeing of the firefighters who attend and there is a responsibility on Kerry County Council to ensure that measures are put in place to provide the necessary healthcare for firefighters," Mr Ring told county councillors.
The service will be available in partnership with North Tipperary County Council.