Retained firefighters escalate industrial action with station closures

Up to half of the stations in the retained fire service around the country will close as part of an escalation of industrial action by the trade union representing workers in the sector.

There are approximately 2,000 SIPTU members who work as retained firefighters at more than 200 fire stations around the country, providing fire and first-responder emergency services across the country.

Retained firefighters are not full-time employees and are instead paid a retainer to be on call for fire stations.

The system is designed to provide 24/7 cover, with retained firefighters also receiving a per-callout fee.

The trade union said the retained firefighters are striking to ensure that the Government’s report on the future of the service will be implemented to resolve the “recruitment and retention crisis that threatens to collapse this essential and life-saving community resource”.

The industrial action began last week with retain firefighters refusing to engage with scheduled training and courses, large amounts of paperwork, and standard firefighting communications technology for the incident command system.

However, they continued to respond to emergency callouts as normal.

They are threatening an “all-out strike” if their concerns over recruitment and retention are not addressed.

Retained firefighters staged pickets at several fire stations including in Ardee, Co Louth.

Lorcan Conlon said retained firefighters like him were looking for reforms to the “outdated” system.

Speaking outside Ardee fire station, he said: “There are lads that can’t get time off when they need, it, they’re running out of their beds at 2am or 3am in the morning, not able to attend children’s football matches or anything.

“It’s a vicious circle because it’s become an unattractive job for someone to join so we can’t get anyone in the door and its getting hard to hold on to people we have.”

Elsewhere, Firefighters in Drogheda held a picket outside the town’s civic offices.

SIPTU public administration and community division organiser Karan O’Loughlin, said the strike action will result in “very serious disruption” to services.

She said members been left with no option but to commence the action as “the very future of the service is in doubt”.

Ms O’Loughlin said SIPTU representatives received a phone call from representatives of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien on Monday.

“In this call the Minister’s representatives expressed concern over the possible impact of the dispute on emergency services.

“They also informed the union that the Minister will deliver ‘a positive statement’ in relation to the dispute in a Dáil debate on the matter.”

She added: “Our members will evaluate this statement after it is delivered but have no option but to proceed with their strike action as planned tomorrow morning.”

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Brendan O’Brien, said: “Retained Firefighters are striking to ensure that a government report on the future of the service is implemented in full in order to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis that threatens to collapse this essential community resource.

“SIPTU members in the retained fire service are serious and will escalate their industrial action to a full all out strike on 20th June if the measures that are necessary to safeguard the future operation of this vital resource are not implemented.”

He added: “As always, SIPTU representatives are available to engage in meaningful dialogue on the outstanding issues with the employers of our members at all times.”