Firefighters warn Taoiseach strike will escalate and lives could be put at risk if dispute not resolved

Firefighters have warned Taoiseach Leo Varadkar their strike will escalate and lives could be at risk if their dispute over pay and staffing levels is not resolved.

About 2,000 retained firefighters around the country are involved in the dispute, which centres on their demands for increases to their overall pay, improved recruitment and retention and their rostered time off.

The workers are technically part-time and are permitted to hold other jobs. In many cases, however, they are on call 24/7, except for when they are on annual leave. Retained firefighters are paid between €8,000 and €12,000 and then on the basis of attendance for training or call-outs.

The firefighters rejected Labour Court proposals for resolving the dispute, which included increases to the retainer and the recruitment of some 400 additional firefighters.

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Siptu recommended rejection of the offer, in part due to their argument that the increases were large in percentage terms but were based on such low figures that they did not address the underlying grievances.

Some striking firefighters were present as Mr Varadkar arrived at an engagement in Dunleer, Co Louth, on Friday.

John Molloy, the local station officer, said firefighters are “not asking for amounts of massive money” but want to be able to go to banks and get mortgages.

Brendan O’Brien, the Siptu sector organiser, said the Government needs to “step up now and deliver for the firefighters the way the firefighters have delivered for the country”.

Mr Varadkar told them he knows the value of their work and that, usually, such disputes are solved by negotiation and said: “Perhaps we can return to talks.”

[ 'People need to know the pressure we are under and stand by us', say firefighters ]

Mr Molloy said that firefighters are breaking strike protocols to attend serious incidents and he said there could come a point when they do not do this. He said that if people did lose their lives as a result, the Government would have to act but asked not to be put “in a position where it’s too late”.

Mr O’Brien said the national firefighter committee is to meet next week “and it’s likely that this strike will escalate”.

“I think there’s a window of opportunity between now and then to see whether there’s an appetite there to bring this dispute and this strike to an end.”

Mr Varadkar told the firefighters: “All strikes are ultimately settled and it would be better if it’d settle sooner rather than later or before something goes wrong.”

He said it was “unusual” for workers to reject a recommendation from the independent Labour Court and “that puts us in a certain bind”. He said a return to talks would be the best way to resolve the matter.