Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will start with something that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will not disagree with. The men and women here in the Gallery and across the State are heroes. There is no question about that. I know the Minister will agree with that. They put their lives on the line. They risk life and limb. They are the people who I, the Minister or our loved ones could call upon in our hour of need in the most terrible of circumstances. The risks they take are enormous.

They do this on top of other jobs, on top of other caring responsibilities and on top of a million other obligations that they have. They do that because they are courageous, committed and dedicated, but that alone will not put food on the table. That alone will not sustain them or their families. We need to ensure that they can sustain themselves. It is for that reason that ever increasing numbers of women and men in the service are saying that they cannot do this anymore and fewer men and women are coming forward to say that they want to be a retained firefighter.

The recommendations are there. They are not from a trade union representative organisation or from civil society. They were commissioned by the Minister.

They need to be implemented. We need to stem the tide of people leaving the retained fire services.

In my remaining time, it would be remiss of me not to mention the issue of Ballincollig fire station. This is a town of more than 20,000 people that, by the time the census results are released, could have much more than that. It was not much more than a village when the station opened and it has now come into the functional area of Cork City Council. The station has closed and the people of Ballincollig and the entire city, given it is now in the functional area of the city, are facing a closed fire station and wondering what that means for the safety of the public generally speaking. The firefighting staff are pulling their hair out. They have been pushing for a resolution for a long time. I urge the Minister to engage with Cork City Council to try to get the station reopened.

Returning to the issue at the heart of the motion, it is clear the model that exists is unsustainable. Firefighters and their representative organisations have tried to engage to the best of their ability but the LGMA and, unfortunately, the Government have not met them on equal terms. We need to ensure they will get the respect they deserve and that we will get these recommendations implemented.

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