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

It is correct. The report lays out exactly in its 13 recommendations what we need to do by working with Departments, retained firefighters through SIPTU, the employers through the LGMA and with the Government to find a mechanism to deal with this. There is a national pay agreement that applies across the entire public sector. Negotiations on a new agreement are about to commence. The Minister has given a firm commitment to advocate for retained firefighters to deal with the issue of increased pay for the retained firefighter's fixed payment. There must be an acknowledgement that we have a national industrial relations mechanism, which is the WRC.

We are calling on retained firefighters. I do not think there are any retained firefighters in the House. I know many of them so I know what is happening on the ground. I know the issues that arise. If we look at the make-up of the fire services according to the report, one third of firefighters are self-employed, one third have another form of income and one third work in the firefighters service. For people on the ground, one of the issues of huge significance that came out of the report was being tied to the area within 2.5 km of the fire station. Already agreement has been reached with SIPTU that firefighters will have up to 20 weeks per year in which that will not arise. That is progress. The Minister has also given a commitment to look at expanding the hours of the premium rates. One issue that came up with the firefighters I met was the driver mechanic grade and the Minister has given a commitment to look at that immediately. Fundamentally, in the spirit of partnership and positivity, I acknowledge that SIPTU and the retained firefighters have abided by and are working with the emergency code that was agreed in 1992, but we ask that they accept the request of the Minister to re-engage with the WRC to find a resolution to this collectively.

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