Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for tabling this debate. I was reflecting on the fact we all know retained firefighters. They are our neighbours and friends. They are in every town and village in Ireland. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, said two key things here tonight. No one wants this dispute to continue. We want to find a way out. We recognise the phenomenal work retained firefighters do.

Deputy Connolly made reference to the report. It is a good and concise report which makes 13 recommendations that are all cogent and to the point. They form the basis for discussions led by David Begg and for the second iteration. Progress has been made. Not all matters have been progressed. Some of the issues have been dealt with. The Deputy referred to the fact that, according to the report, structured time off is a huge factor for 52% of the retained firefighters. In the discussions that took place, it was agreed under the composite agreement that a retained firefighter can be away from the station fire ground area for up to 20 weeks per year. Other issues also came under the terms of the review report, including 50 additional promotion positions, flexibility to attend calls when not scheduled, a widening of the premium hours band, and additional earnings potential in the areas of pre-incident planning and home fire safety visits.

The Minister gave a commitment tonight that he will issue instructions to look at the driver mechanic grade with SIPTU and at expanding the premium hours band. The biggest issue is the amount being paid under the retained firefighter's fixed payment. That is the issue. Anyone who has a background in anything to do with industrial relations and unions will know we have an industrial relations mechanism, namely, the WRC. We encourage SIPTU to take up the Minister's offer to re-engage with the WRC. Second, we have collective pay agreements.

See this speech in context