A planned strike by local retained firefighters would pose serious dangers to public safety, says Cllr. Declan Clune.
“Retained firefighters are essential to our communities,” said Cllr. Clune. “They put their lives on the line every day to protect us from fires, accidents, and other emergencies. A strike by retained firefighters would leave our communities vulnerable to these dangers.”
“Locally we have highly trained, highly professional retained firefighters in both Portlaw and Kilmacthomas. These men are paid a pittance to be on-call 24/7 for 48 weeks of the year and must, at all times, stay within 3km or 5 minutes of their base station.”
“This is pure exploitation and has led to recruitment and retention issues within the service. If this is allowed to continue, we face the possibility of the service collapsing completely,” said Cllr. Clune.
From June 13th, half of the country’s 2000 retained firefighters will strike. The following week, June 20th, this will escalate to an all-out strike unless the dispute over pay and conditions is resolved.
“I regularly meet and speak with local retained firefighters, and I can absolutely guarantee the public that last thing they want to do is strike. They are being forced into this taking this action as all attempts to find a solution up to now have failed. I fully support the retained firefighter’s action and urge the public to support them also.”
A strike by retained firefighters could have a number of serious consequences, including increased risk of fires. When firefighters are not available to respond to fires, fires are more likely to spread and cause damage.
“I urge the Government, and in particular, Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O’Brien to immediately engage with NRFA, SIPTU and UNITE who are the representative bodies for retained firefighters” said Cllr. Clune.
“A strike would put our communities at risk and potentially cause serious economic damage. We need firefighters to continue their essential work of protecting our communities and receive fair pay and conditions that reflect the job they do and the essential service they provide to our communities.”
