Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The implementation of the retained review report recommendations, and the Deputy may know this, is currently part of a sensitive deliberative process of industrial relations negotiations under the auspices of the Labour Court. I inform the House again that I commissioned this review that produced 13 recommendations, which we accepted. The chair of the Labour Court wrote to the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, and SIPTU on 16 June inviting representatives of both parties to attend exploratory talks, which took place on Monday, 19 June.

The purpose of that meeting was to allow the Labour Court to be made aware of the details of the dispute such that the court could form a view as to whether, in the exercise of its statutory functions, it could assist the parties in finding a resolution. All stakeholders agreed to attend and met the Labour Court on 19 June. The Local Government Management Agency, supported by representatives of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and my Department, attended the court representing the management side. Following detailed engagements with both sides, the chair indicated the Labour Court would intervene in this dispute. SIPTU suspended the operational aspects of its ongoing industrial action pending the formal outcome of the Labour Court hearing that took place on 26 June. I wish to take this opportunity to recognise the positive steps SIPTU has taken in suspending the operational aspects of its industrial action to allow the resumption of fire service provision in the interests of public safety and for the safety of firefighters themselves. The Labour Court’s recommendations, once issued, will be considered by both sides. I am taking a personal interest in this issue. My Department will continue to support the LGMA in its role as an employer.

The engagement has been positive. It has been undertaken through the industrial relations mechanism, which I had always said was the way forward on this issue. We will await the determination of the Labour Court and take the situation from there. I have committed to firefighters that we will, and will continue to, advocate on their behalf. They know that and I have met many of them.

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