Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister of State to look at the people in the Gallery. What is a retained fireman or firewoman? A retained firefighter is somebody who lives in the county and does not have set hours.

Someone who rings those firefighters at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. looking for help is not only ringing the firefighter, but is also ringing their wife or husband and their children because they take their caller home with them. They put it on the locker beside the bed. At 3 a.m., 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. when that alarm goes off, children are woken and their wife or husband is woken. That is who people call because they are retained firefighters. They do not have set hours and do not have a set roster.

We are coming up to Christmas. Because the fire service is under-resourced and does not have enough staff, come Christmas Day those firefighters could be sitting down to Christmas dinner or watching their children opening their presents and they need to jump up, change their clothes, run out, get to the fire station, change their clothes again and within ten minutes go out to protect us or save us from harm.

The Government has tabled a countermotion when it should accept the motion. If it wants to put in amendments, it can do so, but it should have left the motion that is there and stop delaying it. Let us look after our fire service and the people in the county.

I did a job in 2018 in Kilmallock and had a firefighter working with me. On many Fridays we used to go for breakfast as a treat. Many a time that firefighter had to jump up from the breakfast table and leave his breakfast behind him. In the Gallery this evening we have not only current firefighters but also retired firefighters who are still fighting for the rights of the firefighting personnel here. The Minister should look after our retained fire service. They are from the county. They do not have set hours. They want our help because we look for their help when we are in trouble. It is time for us to help them.

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