Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also want to welcome firefighters, especially the Tipperary boys, the Tipp boys, here today. They should not have to be here.

I was talking to a retained firefighter this morning whose family has a history of being in the fire service. He told me that the tradition ends with him, because it is not viable anymore for his son to become involved. This sums up what we are talking about, namely, a service that is understaffed because its pay and conditions cause it to leak staff - it is continuing to leak staff - and to reduce available services and thereby deterring new entrants to the fire service.

In talking to many personnel this morning in Tipperary and outside the gates earlier on this matter, I was warned in no uncertain terms that there is every possibility that if this continues, workers' safety will be put further at risk and services could ultimately be lost to communities. If the Minister was faced with the prospect of an annual retainer of €8,500 to be on call for 48 weeks of the year and to reside within a certain radius to guarantee a six-minute response time to the station, he would not find it financially viable either, let alone something that would attract new recruits with young families. When new recruits are thin on the ground, then so is the availability of services.

I will let the Minister know - he may not care - that Tipp town should have 12 personnel running two pumps. Instead, it has eight members, which means that when providing for three staff members of be off at any time they are left with five staff, the minimum to run one vehicle. If their numbers fall any further, they must rely on the nearest station to assist. Cahir and Cashel are the two nearest and both are eight miles from Tipperary town.

These stations are being put to the pin of their collar. Cashel is a two-pump station. Every so often, precisely because of staff numbers, they find themselves dropping to a one-pump station as well. In the north of the county, staffing numbers are also limiting services. Nenagh is short two members. They also lose a pump from time to time for the same reasons.

When the Minister speaks, he needs to outline a financial investment package which allows for the creation of a new framework for service delivery for retained fire services and which provides for increased remuneration and better conditions.

On the subject of service availability, I ask the Minister to examine the central response assessment process as one station told me that, traditionally, it would be confident of 220 calls a year. Recently, they went for a month without a call and then, suddenly, eight calls in a week came to them. It begs the question of what is happening in the central assessment process that appears to reduce the amount of call-outs to particular stations.

My Sinn Féin colleagues and I stand fully behind the retained firefighters. They are always there for the communities they are committed to. They need to be shown the same respect by the Government and by the Minister. The health and safety of these men and women and that of the public must be a priority. There must be no more dragging of the Minister's heels on this issue and he must get it sorted out. The Minister must put an immediate funding package together, get this sorted out now and let the brave men and women back doing their jobs and not here protesting. This is going on for 23 years according to newspaper reports this morning. It is time for the Government to stop dragging its heels and get it done.

See this speech in context