John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last November, Sinn Féin brought forward a motion with proposals to help to address the recruitment and retention crisis within the retained fire service. It was voted down by the Government. At the time, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said he was serious about addressing the issues and said he would take action. A report has been published by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management with recommendations around conditions but, critically, also around pay. Last week, negotiations between the LGMA and representatives of firefighters broke down because the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform had put constraints on management preventing them from making any proposals on pay.

We are now facing the prospect of industrial and strike action. Retained firefighters were balloted last year. Some 90% of them voted for industrial strike action. They are meeting on Friday to move forward with that action because of the failure of Government. My question to the Minister is about why there is a continuous failure by Government to address the crisis in the retained fire service.

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