Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have only a minute to answer and I want to answer on the retained fire service, because I commissioned the report on the retained fire service in Ireland back in May 2021. We had 1,000 submissions to it, many from retained firefighters. I regularly meet retained firefighters from across the country, including in our constituency. Proposals have gone forward through the Local Government Management Agency directly to the unions on terms and conditions, especially the work-life balance. Rostering is a big issue for people as they are effectively on call 24-7. I will give the House a flavour of the number of things that have been offered already. These include an increase in staff numbers by approximately 20% with a minimum of 12 firefighters in all stations, structured time off, individual flexibility with regard to availability, 50 additional promotional positions, flexibility to attend calls when scheduled on leave, if desired, and retainer payments not reduced despite a much lower level of commitment to be available.

We are close to a resolution on this and a lot of good work has gone in on the basis of the 13 recommendations. We are continuing to engage with union representatives in this regard and I believe we can come to a resolution that will mean we can retain people within the fire service but attract more. There has been a big issue in attracting newer staff. We depend heavily on the retained fire service and indeed the full-time fire services across the country.

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