Over 53,000 children are to be given a fire-safety pack in a bid to make families more danger conscious.
Under the Fire Safety Education Programme, 3,200 schools will be provided with information to educate families to lower the number of deaths and injuries from fires.
Minister for Environment Dick Roche said the primary schools programme was about educating children to help inform the rest of their families.
In St Laurence's National School in Greystones, Co Wicklow, Mr Roche said: "Most people die from smoke inhalation and not burns. A smoke alarm will not prevent fires happening but it will warn people that it is happening, and it will give them time to get out.
"Twenty per cent of homes in this country have no working smoke alarm - that is more than 320,000 homes. I want every home to have working smoke alarms and my department has started a number of projects to make this happen."
On average 46 people die in fires each year - six of those are generally under the age of 14. Over 1,000 people attend hospitals with burn or scald injuries every year.
PA