Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister knows that we should not need to be here today. What has happened here is disgraceful. It is disgraceful that we are here and that these firefighters had to come in here today. I welcome them to the Gallery.

The Minister knows it is because of the non-action of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform that we are here in the first instance. I ask the Minister to sort this out.

I do so particularly on behalf of the firefighters in Mayo. There are 113 retained firefighters working in 12 fire stations who are on call 24 hours a day in an emergency. They are highly trained and they are committed to keeping us all safe. Because of the lack of ambulance services and other first responders, they are often the first people on the scene of accidents across all of the roads in Mayo.

I ask the Minister to listen. I ask him to get this sorted out. The retained firefighters put their lives on the line in the course of their duty. They have families too. They deserve to have a life. They are giving us a service that is above and beyond and we need to remunerate them properly.

They are not being given the support or empathy that their role demands and due to the shortages of other personnel, as I said, they are often the only people who are there. We are absolutely dependent on them. We rely on them for health and safety. We rely on them across our county and across the other counties to save lives.

I take the opportunity to thank them for that but that is not enough. Their work must be valued and they must be remunerated properly. It is disgraceful that we are here in the first instance.

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