Firefighters escalate industrial action with up to half of stations closed today

A previous protest by Siptu firefighters. A new series of rolling stoppages begins today, with Siptu saying the action could escalate to an all-out strike on June 20 if the dispute has not been resolved by then. File picture: Larry Cummins

Almost 50% of firefighters will engage in work stoppages today to protest at what they say are unfair and unmanageable pay and conditions.

Gerrard O’Donovan, a firefighter with Bantry fire station in West Cork, said firefighters have been “backed into a corner” by the Government’s continued refusal to enter discussions about pay.

They say that the annual €8,500 retainer which retained firefighters are paid has not been increased for many years despite inflation and increasing demands of the job.

Unless pay and conditions are improved, firefighters fear that no one will enter and stay in the fire service. Many stations are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain staff. Mr O’Donovan said: 

We don’t want to let people down but we feel our hands are tied. And we feel forced into the next level of strike. 

“It’s not something we’re comfortable with but if nothing is done and nothing changes we won’t have a fire service. We are bleeding out.”

Of some 3,000 firefighters employed nationally, some 2,000 are retained, part-time firefighters. 

In Cork, all but the city’s fire stations are operated on a retained part-time service.

Unlike full-time firefighters who are paid a wage and accrue benefits such as holiday pay, retained firefighters are paid a retainer of some €8,500 annually to be on call. They are additionally paid per callout.

Mr O’Donovan met with his station crew on Monday night to discuss the imminent industrial action and they decided that, for any calls where life is in danger, firefighters taking part in the stoppages will still respond.

“We’re rurally located. We cover a big area but it’s a small population and we know everyone. The people who are calling us are our family, our friends our community. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday we are now rostered as ‘off’ [for the work stoppage] but if there is a life-threatening incident we will respond.

We could not conscionably not respond. We couldn’t just down tools knowing life is at risk. 

For less acute calls, the local authority can call in fire crews from stations in other West Cork towns during Bantry’s action this week, he said.

June is a busy time for firefighters in the southwest, with an increase in road traffic incidents as thousands of tourists flood into the area.

“Tourists are very welcome here but the roads are narrow and some people are not used to that. We see a massive increase in road traffic accidents at this time of year,” he said.

In dry weather, forest fires are also extremely difficult to control and can rely on water being flown over the area and dumped onto it.

“This time of year with the dry weather there’s an Amber fire alert,” he said.

“People are lighting barbecues and they throw ash into the ditch, not knowing there’s still a lighting ember and the ditch catches fire. That can start a house fire or a forest fire. Most homes in West Cork have oil tanks up on the ditch behind the house that can do serious damage if it catches fire.”