Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the Cathaoirleach's words regarding our late colleague, Mr. Paul Coghlan. I extend not just my sympathies but those of my Sinn Féin colleagues to Paul's family and friends, and the Fine Gael Party. Paul was always an absolute gentleman. He was a very warm human being. He was someone who went out of his way to make all of us welcome when we first arrived in the House. He was an incredibly knowledgeable man but he wore that knowledge very lightly. My abiding memory of him will be of the great craic he could be if you had the time to have a jar with him at any stage. He was just an exceptional human being. On the face of it, we did not have much in common politically, but he had such a sense of decency and fair play that was really at the heart of his character. I often found myself not just agreeing with Paul but was almost in awe of the man because he was just a wonderful human being. It is very important that we remember him today.

I concur with what Senator Boyhan said about the hooded men. It is shocking that this apology has taken so long. It underlines why we need to push back on the British Government's plans regarding the legacy Bill. I will speak on it next week at the Council of Europe's human rights body. I have no doubt that our colleagues from across the parties will join with us on that. We need to give a very clear message to the British Government that this nonsense has to stop. It is a unique situation when all political parties in Ireland, North and South, are at one on this legacy Bill being an absolute travesty and having to end.

I will talk about the firefighters' SIPTU trade union dispute. Fire stations in Rathkeale, Abbeyfeale and Cappamore in County Limerick, the county where I live, are on strike today. I heard Ms Karan O'Loughlin, the SIPTU official, speak very passionately on "Morning Ireland" this morning. These people do not want to go on strike. They did not want to on strike and are at pains to stress that emergency cover will be there. We should consider two things. First, the typical earnings for a retained firefighter are €700 a month. God forbid, how can anyone manage on that? Those firefighters have to stay within 3 km of where they live in order to qualify for that payment. How has this has not been addressed to date by the Government, specifically by the Ministers, Deputies Darragh O'Brien and Donohoe, is beyond me. Second, we should not forget that local authorities, which employ these workers, insist that if they take a job in a local authority, they have to resign their position as a retained firefighter. I do not think it is widely known that local authority workers are prevented from actually becoming retained firefighters. In other words, it is left entirely to the private sector. That is a fundamental flaw in the model which has to be addressed. I call for an urgent debate on this matter. There will be further escalation of strike action unless the Government acts. We know the solution is more funding to give a decent rate of pay to these workers. We need delivery from the Ministers.