Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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314. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider granting permission to Galway County Council to extend the retirement date for fire service staff who are scheduled to retire in January 2021 until the end of June 2021 as per similar permissions previously granted in Cork and Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40488/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The retirement age for retained firefighters is 55, with provision for an annual extension up to the age of 58, subject to a formal application process, including a compulsory medical assessment. The retirement age for full-time firefighters is, in general, 55.

The retirement ages reflect the legitimate requirement that firefighters should be capable of satisfactorily meeting the physically demanding nature of the role. In this regard, pursuant to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989, every fire authority, as an employer, has a statutory duty to avoid placing employees at unnecessary risk.

In general, any changes to the terms and conditions of employment proposed by either employing organisations or employee representative associations are discussed and negotiated using the established industrial relations processes. I have no plans to review the situation in respect of firefighters outside of these well understood and long established processes.