Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with my colleague, Deputy Smith. We recently met with Dublin Fire Brigade. We listened to unbelievable stories from individual members who went above and beyond on a daily basis for the people of Dublin. A young firefighter called Aisling says she is trying to build in her mortgage because she knows she may have to retire at 55 due to the nature of the job. Even after 40 years’ service and paying into a pension, they would be left with €250 a week. That is simply unbelievable. It is not acceptable. Firefighters have called for a supplementary occupational pension, along with the Defence Forces, the Garda, the Dublin Fire Brigade and the Prison Service. It was promised by Fianna Fáil. It should have been in the programme of Government, which is what this debate is about today. We turn to those people when we need them. As my colleague said, when Storm Éowyn happened last week, it was those people who were on the front line while we shut the door. It was those people who were out there. Time after time they have come to our rescue, yet we have not rewarded them. It is not about reward; it is about fairness. It is all about fairness for these people. They chose this career. They want it. As my colleague said, they go through a stringent process in order to get this career yet they face this situation because the Government has not put this issue into the programme for Government. Some €500 a month is what we are talking about today. That is what is involved in the pension. It is unacceptable to get €250 after 40 years’ service at the age of 55. Like my colleague, I ask the Minister of State to look at this again and to bring it back to the Minister and ensure that this occupational pension comes in for all those people that we depend on so often.

The other issue I want to raise today is the unacceptable news we got last week about the sale of Bord na Móna Recycling. This flies in the face of so many issues that I have dealt with in recent years, but it also flies in the face of the recommendations of the Dublin taskforce and the previous Oireachtas joint committee on the environment. From talking to colleagues in SIPTU and workers in Bord na Móna, it is my understanding that this decision will come before the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to be signed off. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, and the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, not to allow this decision to go through. It flies in the face of what other countries in Europe are doing at the moment. Every other country is going back to having a public service rather than privatising their service. If the Minister of State is from the country, like I am, she will see illegal dumping right around the State on every road she travels – on every country road and even in urban settings we see rubbish being dumped on the side of the road. Once we go to the private sector for our refuse collection, we are only going to encourage profit and illegal tenders to go back out and start dumping on our roads again. The most recent estimate I saw suggested that local authorities spend in the region of €100 million in cleaning up illegal dumping in this country. I ask the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien to bring public refuse collection back into the programme for Government. We should not sell off the last public refuse collection company, as Bord na Móna is intent on doing.

The other day I listened to my colleagues from County Kildare talk about the Curragh. I totally support the inclusion of the great facility that we have. The plains of the Curragh is a magnificent facility but, unfortunately, we have heard in recent days that the Curragh fire station is to close. As a Member of the Seanad I previously raised the dereliction that is in the Curragh. If the Government is serious about the Curragh, it needs to include the retention of the Curragh fire service and also investment in the Curragh training camp. It is the jewel in the crown of the Defence Forces. Speaking of the Defence Forces, we need to ensure retention in the Defence Forces. This has been mentioned by colleagues previously. The Curragh is the heart of the Defence Forces and what we need to see is investment in the Curragh, not what we hear at the moment that a facility like the Curragh fire station is to close down. I have raised this with the Tánaiste and the previous Minister for Defence. He tells me that the accommodation that could be there for retention is not going to be viable, but what we need to do is to build houses for the Army and others on the Curragh so as to retain Army membership and encourage more to join the Army. That is what the Defence Forces need.

In the time remaining, I also want to mention an issue that comes up regularly for me, namely, the lack of sporting facilities. The reason I raise the issue today is that I have been contacted by a number of sports clubs, in particular ladies’ sports clubs who are sharing facilities with other sports clubs. They are totally dependent on those clubs as to when they can take to the field. That is simply not good enough at a time when we are encouraging more and more women to take up sport. We need separate facilities. What is needed, and what we have proposed before is municipal areas where the Government buys land and develops facilities for all sports clubs so that the people in sports clubs can enjoy the sport in their own time.

We have some wonderful clubs but they cannot share with the other clubs all the time. We are disallowing so many young people from taking up and playing sport, which obviously we need to do. I encourage the Government to ensure that we invest in sport.

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