On Tuesday, Senators Gallagher and O’Donovan spoke on the issue of the pay of whole-time retained firefighters, pointing out that negotiations with the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, have broken down and that strike action has been served on the relevant parties. We heard about how a whole-time retained firefighter earns approximately €700 per month which equates to 99 cent per hour. They must be on call 24-7, 360 days a year. They must stay within 3 km of the station at all times, attend the station within five minutes of a call and attend eight weeks of compulsory training in their first year in order to qualify as a firefighter. We can all understand why strike action is being taken over the abysmal level of pay.
On Tuesday, the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, responded that, “Should a period of industrial action commence on 6 June, local authorities will put in place appropriate contingency measures to ensure the ongoing provision of essential services is maintained.” I have been contacted by multiple councillors in Tipperary, Galway and Meath off the back of that response. They do not know how that is going to work or whether it is going to be possible. Many simply cannot see how the councils will be able to ensure the uninterrupted provision of firefighting services without their local retained firefighters. What will happen if, God forbid, there is another Creeslough? What will happen if there is a big industrial fire? Who will be expected to step up?
There is another aspect to this that compounds the problem in what may be a very dangerous matter. The local authority water workers are planning to go on strike as well, so there will be fewer firefighters and, if there is a major water leak in a town or a burst pipe, no one will be there to fix it. We will, therefore, have no water either. That sounds like the perfect storm just waiting to happen. One glance at the Irish Water map shows water outages all over the country. We would not have time to list them here this morning. On 7 and 8 June, and on a rolling basis after that, the local authority water workers will not be there to fix them.
Will the Minister of State please take that into account as he outlines how the Department will make sure that local authorities are able to continue their service this month and ensure they are fully equipped and prepared to handle whatever accidents may occur in these areas?
14 окт 2024
