Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has got the immediate reaction of firefighters to what he has said. They have walked out of the Public Gallery in response to his words because he gave pretty much the same speech here last November. There is absolute tone deafness among the likes of the LGMA, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Government. How can the Minister possibly connect the working pay and conditions that have been so well reported to the people of Ireland over the past week on our public airwaves, namely, the shocking conditions where the firefighters are supposed to be available 50 weeks of the year, 24-7, within 3 km of their stations. With the type of pay and conditions they have, how can the Minister possibly compare them with every other public sector worker? That is the point. They have very separate pay, conditions and treatment, from all other public sector workers. How can it possibly be undermining a collective pay agreement to deal with that issue, to treat them fairly and with the dignity and fairness they deserve. I find it astonishing for anybody on one side of the negotiations to say that if they give the firefighters parity of treatment and dignity with all other public sector workers, they would be breaking a deal. Will the Minister name one public sector worker who will object to treating those firefighters properly? Will he name one public sector worker that would say "I am sorry but you have broken the collective pay agreement" if firefighters were treated properly and fairly at last? This is an arrangement from the 1950s. It is from back in the day when a mechanic or a farmer might have been asked to respond as a community service. This is 2023. People have to put a roof over their heads. They have to look after their families and deal with massive costs. We know all about the house prices and rent prices. We have taken the salt of the earth of our country for granted for far too long. These are people with civic pride. They are agonising about this strike because if a fire or a road traffic collision happens in their community, they know the people involved. It is absolutely agonising to force people like that to go on strike. Will the Minister please not come up with this nonsense about the collective agreement being broken in doing the right thing by firefighters. He has to pull back from that position and do it urgently. We are in an awful situation here.

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