John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In 2005 firefighters in Bray staged a walkout from the fire station in Bray, arising from concerns regarding the condition of the retained service in Wicklow. As a county councillor at the time I spoke to them, and I was the only public representative to do so. The walkout was led by sub-officer Brian Murray. They outlined a litany of issues within the service that were impacting their ability to do their jobs. Call vetting, recruitment and retention and underinvestment in the retained service were but a few of the issues raised. Brian told me at the time that someone would die unless the issues they were highlighting were addressed. Two years later, on 26 September 2007, sub-officer Brian Murray and firefighter Mark O’Shaughnessy lost their lives in the line of duty. They died protecting their community but they died because of the systematic failures within a service that is not fit for purpose.

Here we are 14 years after Brian and Mark’s deaths and things in the retained service are as bad if not worse. During a recent conference of the chief fire officers, the retained fire service was described as not being fit for purpose and I agree. There have been instances where fire services have been unable to respond to emergencies due to a shortage of firefighters and in other instances some fire stations have been forced to close. Firefighters are on call 24-7 and 365 days of the year and many simply cannot take time off due to a shortage of personnel.

In County Clare, for example, 24 firefighters have been recruited since 2016 but 16 have already left the service and this is being replicated right across the State within the retained service. Bray fire station which serves a population of over 35,000 should be a two-pump station but for the last five years it has been reduced to a one-pump station, with Greystones providing backup. This has obvious knock-on implications for Greystones and the wider area. Necessity demands that Bray be a full-time service but because the local authority is unable to fund it, this simply has not happened. Fire services are being delivered on the basis of a local authority budget as opposed to a risk assessment.

Recently the management board of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management approved a proposal for undertaking a review of the model of local authority retained service delivery. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, informed me that the objective of this review is to explore and understand the issues impacting service delivery, to undertake research and analysis, and to propose options which will underpin the continuing provision of effective and inclusive local authority fire services into the future. The model used for the retained fire service is the root cause of many of the difficulties in the service. I have long advocated for the creation of a national fire authority in line with one of the key recommendations of the Farrell Grant Sparks report of 2002 and this should also be included in the review which is being rolled out by the Department. As many would say, there are simply too many chiefs and not enough firefighters in the service. There are many issues within the fire service but the failure to address the issues of recruitment and retention is literally a matter of life and death. I do not want to see the death or injury of another firefighter or member of the public in Wicklow or anywhere else in this State due to the failure to address the serious issues within the service. If the issue of staffing levels is not addressed, the Government is endangering the welfare of firefighters and the public throughout the State. The aforementioned review must not be a whitewash either. It must look at all of the issues including the structures within the retained service. The Minister must also commit to publishing the final report once complete and to fully implementing any findings to ensure that we have a retained service that is fit for purpose and fit for the 21st century.

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