Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to return to the matter of industrial relations difficulties in local government, in particular the difficulty faced by retained firefighters across the country and that faced by water workers who are not intending to transfer to Irish Water. I raised this matter with the Tánaiste, the Minister's party leader, last week. He urged that water workers engage with the industrial relations machinery of the State. However, the difficulty is that they already have engaged with that industrial relations machinery. A framework came out and the Minister welcomed the framework. It was all great. The Minister even wrote a letter to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions saying the framework would be honoured in spirit and in letter.

However, it seems it will not be when it comes to Irish Water workers who wish to remain in the local authorities because they are not being guaranteed their allowances. They cannot get a guarantee around that. They have been in protracted negotiations with the LGMA. While yes, they are free to stay, and yes, there has been progress as the Minister correctly pointed out, on some of the issues, there is no progress on allowances in particular their weekend allowances. They work over seven days. Most, not all, but most local authority employees work over five days but they work over seven. That allowance is a significant part of their income on a weekly basis and it is also pensionable. It will have large ramifications for workers. Many of them are approaching pensionable age. I dare say many of those will remain in local authorities. With a little bit of ingenuity, many roles in local authorities other than water workers require seven-day cover, for example caretakers. There are many others. If there was any will from the LGMA and from the local authority senior management to accommodate them they could easily be accommodated.

Similarly with firefighters. They voted for industrial action last January. They have been negotiating with the LGMA. There is a huge retention crisis in almost all of the bases in Clare. There are fire services in Ennistimon, Kilrush, Shannon, Killaloe and Scariff. All of them perform a hugely valuable role. They are first responders, not just to fires but to traffic accidents. I should add Ennis also has a retained fire service. Not all the staff in Ennis are retained but the majority are. In Shannon, for example, they provide a back up. That might be anathema or a surprise to the Minister in north County Dublin but in Shannon, retained firefighters provide valuable back-up services to Shannon Airport.

See this speech in context