Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Maloney for raising this matter which I will take on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Hogan. The Minister is responsible for national policy on fire safety and fire services. Recently, he published two policy documents, Keeping Communities Safe, and, on 7 February, CAMP - the Next Generation. Both documents were prepared by the Department's national directorate for fire and emergency management through a collaborative process which included - I stress this point - consultation with stakeholders.

I am more than happy to clarify that there is no dispute between firefighters and the Department. The Department is not an employer of firefighters and any issues which arise between firefighters and the local authorities which are their employers are dealt with through established industrial relations processes and systems.

I can confirm that, as a recognised representative body for firefighters, SIPTU has five members on the national directorate's consultative committee, which is a forum where views can be articulated on the directorate's work programme. SIPTU was one of the groups which provided comment during the consultation process, and bilateral meetings were held last autumn to further establish its views on specific issues. The Department also corresponded with the relevant SIPTU officials, and provided them with draft texts and samples of supporting documents. It is a matter of regret that SIPTU representatives indicated they were withdrawing from the consultative committee at its last meeting in December 2012. However, while no stakeholder group can have a veto on policy formulation, the Department has corresponded with SIPTU indicating that, in addition to the consultative committee forum, the bilateral meeting process is available if it wishes to discuss aspects of the national directorate's work.

I assure the Deputy that should matters arise at the implementation stage which could be perceived as affecting the terms and-or conditions of employment of fire service personnel, these will be dealt with through appropriate established industrial relations channels with recognised staff representative organisations at either national or local level as appropriate.

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