Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the positive tone at the end of the Minister of State's contribution. I hope, given that two parties are involved in this, namely, the local authorities and the firefighters represented by SIPTU, that there will be a positive outcome. I also appreciate what the Minister of State said at the beginning of his contribution, that the negotiations are not between SIPTU and the Department but between SIPTU and the local authorities. On the basis of the tone of the conclusion of the Minister of State's response I hope there will be further engagement on the issue. Part-time firefighters, or retained staff, make up the bulk of the firefighters we have in the jurisdiction. As I stated at the beginning, it should not reach a stage where members are balloted and we are looking at the threat of industrial action.

Tallaght fire station, in my constituency, is one of the busiest in the entire country. It covers not only a wide area of south Dublin, including parts of the city, but also Wicklow and parts of Kildare. At long last, there have been improvements to the station after many broken promises. I am conscious that a group of firefighters like that do an excellent job. It is to be hoped that it will not get to the stage where such people would have to withdraw their labour.

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