Mr. Bernard Lucas:

If, for some reason, the OIC takes a dislike to you, you are pretty much dismissed. You are told you are in trouble. The CUSM will come down. You will get a letter saying you will be dismissed and the CUSM will always back up the OIC. You will not meet them separately. They will be together in a room. You will be told you are dismissed and that is it. There is a procedure to appeal it. I do not know anybody who has appealed, got back in and the decision overturned. The exception to that is the person who had to spend €18,000 of his own money and sort it out on the steps of the court. To my knowledge, that is the only person who has got back in.

We do not have a mechanism whereby we can get legal representatives paid for by the State, like the Coast Guard can. We have none of these rights. We are ignored. Mention was made here of the Army representative body and stuff like that. We do not have any of these things. Firefighters have it but we do not. If one of us wants to take it further, as the other person did, it is out of that person's own pocket. The Coast Guard has the full weight of the State behind it.