John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, the issue of the retained fire service has not been given priority by the Government. In my constituency of Wicklow in 2005, the station officer, Mr. Brian Murray, led a walkout of the fire station in Bray citing huge issues within the service. He said that someone would die because of the major issues there and a year later, himself and his colleague, Mr. Mark O'Shaughnessy, both died tackling a blaze. I contend that was because of the failures within the retained service. Firefighters are saying that things are worse today than they were at the time of that walkout in 2005. Unfortunately, here we are again. Due to the consistent failure to deal with this, firefighters have been forced into taking industrial action, leading to full strike action.

Meaningful measures, including financial measures, must be taken. It is totally unsustainable for a firefighter to be on call for 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and to be confined to living within a 2.5 km radius of a fire station. It simply is not sustainable for a basic firefighter to be on a retained salary of €8,000 to €9,000 per year. Nobody would do that. It is well below the minimum wage. There needs to be a sense of reality here from the Government and the Department. They have to understand that without a financial package to bring the retained fire service into the 21st century, there will be serious problems in terms of the safety of firefighters and members of the public. There needs to be meaningful engagement immediately. The Minister, in fairness, said that he wants this issue to be addressed but the failure to do so rests with him and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform. Unless the money is put in place, we are going to be back here again and again.