Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I often hear people in this House speak about leadership and heroism in reference to ongoing national stories. Throughout the Covid crisis, we heard daily about the mission of people in our public service to save lives and the sacrifices made and the risks engaged in by public sector health workers. Unlike Covid, the emergency situation that faces our retained firefighters has not abated in any way. Every day they attend for duty, they do so in the knowledge they might ultimately be involved in a serious work-related accident or incident that could demand of them unknowingly the ultimate sacrifice. Such a scenario unfolded in 2007 with the loss of two firefighters fighting a blaze in a factory complex in Bray. There is nothing to say such a scenario cannot repeat itself on any other work day in any other part of the country. What value should we as a society place on this type of service?

I recently raised two areas of concern with the Minister. One relates to the Wexford General Hospital fire to which Deputy Verona Murphy alluded. As I said to him, the first fire crew members to respond to that fire were a station officer and a driver mechanic. They had to wait 40 minutes for a fire tender to arrive from Enniscorthy to deal with the fire. But for the bravery of the hospital staff and their organisation in ensuring nearly all the patients were evacuated, there was no loss of life. What discussion might we be having in this House today if 40 or 50 lives had been lost in the Wexford fire, with the resultant need to have fire engines on the scene far sooner?

The fire service is very important to rural Ireland. In my county of Waterford, we have a large hinterland, as the Minister knows, in which the fire service is often the first go-to responder people see, even before the ambulance. People depend on the service. As other Deputies said, retained firefighters certainly do not do what they do for the money. They do it to give service to their community. Many of them give service as first responders, cardiac responders, etc. As Deputy Murphy outlined, we as politicians are well paid. We want our work to be valued and we want to be recognised for the service we give. People who work in the retained fire service are no different.

A firefighter in the retained service in County Waterford outlined to me that one of his big disappointments was that he did not have a decent uniform and nor did any of this colleagues. They had not been provided with them. He told me they did not even have the semblance of a formal-looking group when they attend a funeral for a colleague or somebody in the service or stand in procession at an event. That is a terrible indictment of the treatment of people in a public service role. These people have great pride in the service they provide but they understand the service does not really value them. We must look at that issue.

We would all agree that remuneration is a symbol of the value of work. The recognition of the work one does, and its meaningfulness, is reflected in the remuneration given. Unfortunately, we are giving a clear message to retained firefighters by the remuneration on offer and the inability of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and whomever else to do something for retained firefighters. Ultimately, we are telling them they do no matter. That is not the case and it certainly is not the opinion of people where I live.

I noted the Minister's comments on collective bargaining. I contend that this service has long been left out of different rounds of collective bargaining. For that reason, the Minister should do something exceptional for the retained firefighters. I call on the Government to do something exceptional for them. They must finally be recognised for who they are and paid accordingly. They are emergency responders and first responders. They must be supported and remunerated appropriately.

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