Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy John Brady for bringing this motion before the House. I recognise his very long track record in this area, highlighting the issues that affect the fire services. On behalf of the Social Democrats, I strongly support the motion and support the retained firefighters who are campaigning for a basic level of decency in the way they are treated. It is a pity the Government has tabled an amendment to the motion. It would have been better for us to unite as a Dáil in support of it. I welcome the firefighters who are here in the Gallery.

The best way for all of us to support the work done by firefighters and all front-line staff is not through praise and plaudits but by ensuring that enough staff are deployed, properly paid and treated well, to allow the work to be done safely. Another one of the best ways to support firefighters is to ensure buildings are built in compliance with fire safety standards and regulations so that firefighters' and residents' lives are not unnecessarily put at risk. We have heard from other Deputies about the very professional, dedicated service that is provided by firefighters and retained firefighters in communities across the country. It extends well beyond the traditional work of firefighters and involves matters such as cardiac arrest, dealing with environmental emergencies and dealing with suicides. Fire services and retained firefighters play a key role in our communities.

The Minister rightly acknowledged all the key issues, including work-life balance, the need to attract younger people into roles, rostering, pay and conditions. However, I question the urgency of his response. He told us that these issues now need to be addressed. He has been in office two and a half years. These issues need to be addressed, but they should have been addressed before now. The Government should not have let it get to this crisis situation. The Minister said the review will be published shortly and that we must get it published. What is holding him up in publishing the review? Why has he not done it?

I want to address the issue of female participation which the Minister raised. He has a key responsibility in this. If he addressed the issues the firefighters are bringing to the fore around their work, conditions, pay and rostering, all that would help us get more female participation in the fire services. The Minister must address the issues that are being brought forward tonight and by the campaign run by the firefighters. The Minister mentioned the refurbishing and updating of fire stations throughout the country. As he knows, many of them were built 40 to 50 years ago. The facilities are completely inadequate in the context of the modern world. Many of the staff have no dignity or privacy in these stations. Some stations have communal showers. They also have locker areas in corridors where people have no privacy. It is not appropriate in any sense and certainly not appropriate in terms of trying to broaden diversity within the workforce. The Minister has responsibility for addressing this. The local authorities are left to modernise and refurbish the stations out of their own budgets, without sufficient support. This is an issue firefighters have raised with me.

It is not tolerable that fire services nationally are understaffed and under-resourced. The Minister knows that this puts the lives of firefighters, residents and the general public at risk. There need to be standards set out as to what staffing levels are needed in the fire service. They need to be set out in legislation to ensure that local authorities comply. There are plenty of international examples where we do not compare well with other countries.

The current system retained firefighters are operating under is archaic and not fit for purpose. It does not reflect the realities of modern-day life. It puts retained firefighters under significant pressure, for example, in having to pay higher rents to live in close proximity to fire stations, or not being able to secure mortgages. These are heightened pressures in the current housing disaster that we have. Not being able to travel outside a certain radius and being on call for such long periods, unable to visit or meet family, is particularly onerous. It does not compare internationally with other retained firefighters. It goes without saying that we need to keep and retain the skills and experience that we have in this very important line of work. We need an emergency response from the Government on this. Nationally and internationally, there is an issue whereby retained firefighters are not being replaced. In other jurisdictions, they have gone much further to address this than has been the case here. In the Shropshire, for example, retained fire service the maximum on-call time for members is about 48 hours per week less than is the case in Ireland. This gives people more flexibility. They also offer that people can be available for 75%, 50%, or 33% of the on-call time, which gives people different options. If we are looking to diversity in the workforce, that would help. On staffing levels, the authorities in Shropshire require 12 on-call firefighters in order to deliver a minimum of four firefighters. That is they way they operate. They have 18 to 24 retained firefighters to cover a single pump in a station.

I touched on the issue of ensuring safety for our fire service workers and residents. That is tied in with our building standards and regulation of building compliance with fire safety standards. High-rise buildings have been mentioned by others. There is a certainly an issue. Firefighters in Dublin tell me that they do not have sufficient training and that there is not sufficient equipment either. There is limited equipment for any building over seven or eight storeys. I also want to refer to the ban on combustible facade materials.

In Ireland, the ban only applies to buildings. It applies to institutional buildings and buildings over 80 m high. The situation here is that it is perfectly legal to put combustible material on the outside of apartment blocks of three, four and five storeys. That is in a country where we know there is somewhere in the region of 100,000 apartments with fire safety and other serious defects. It is completely irresponsible to continue to have a situation where combustible materials can be put on the facades of the buildings to which I refer. I would have thought after Grenfell, when more than 70 people lost their lives, that those lessons would be strongly learned here.

If the Government was serious about fire safety, it would address these issues and ensure that all fire services are properly staffed and resourced and that they are not understaffed and under-resourced. It would treat retained firefighters with the respect they deserve in order they can bring their contracts and conditions into the 21st century and so that we can have the fire services everyone wants to see.

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