Kilkenny President of AILG pledges support for retained fire fighters

President of The Association of Irish Local Government,  Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick has today called on the Minister, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) to bring to an end the ongoing dispute with our local authority retained fire fighters.

“Retained firefighters are on call 24/7. They make huge personal and family sacrifices by doing this job as they have to be available constantly especially with the low staffing numbers. They can never stray too far from home and often miss family holidays, school plays, and family trips – things that the rest of us take for granted,” he said.

 “I was speaking to a local retained firefighter lately in Kilkenny who told me that one Sunday morning he was having breakfast with his family when his pager went off and within 15 minutes he was helping a family evacuate from their home after a major flood. It is only fair, right and proper that the pay and condition of the people that provide this vital service to the public is addressed to the satisfaction of the retained fighters," said Cllr Fitzpatrick.

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There are currently around 3,000 firefighters nationwide, two-thirds of which are employed as retained rather than full-time firefighters. Retained fire service staff are paid an annual retainer of €8,500 per annum to be available for call-outs, with their pay then depending on the number of incidents they attend.

Retained firefighters are allowed to work part-time jobs to supplement their income, but do so knowing that their second job must be within 2.5km of their fire station. They must also live within that same distance from the fire station they are attached to in order to respond within five minutes of being paged to report to work.

The poor pay conditions has resulted in people leaving the service and is making recruitment very difficult for local authorities across the country. This has led to the strike action that we have seen over the last six weeks. Therefore, it is vital that this issue is resolved as soon as possible.  

Cllr. Fitzpatrick concluded by saying, “I am aware that the Labour Court have made a recommendation in relation to his dispute which is unacceptable to the retained firefighters. However, I would call on the Local Government Management Service, who have responsibility in this area, to use these recommendations as a starting basis to re-engage with the retained firefighters and their unions to reach an fair and equitable solution to this issue.”