Retained fire service talks
Deputy Brady said the Government had failed to act on a fire service recruitment and retention crisis and asked for immediate funding. Harris said facilitation talks had made progress but no settlement was reached, disputed that Government constraints were the cause, and urged renewed constructive engagement.
Last November, Sinn Féin brought forward a motion with proposals to help to address the recruitment and retention crisis within the retained fire service. It was voted down by the Government. At the time, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said he was serious about addressing the issues and said he would take action. A report has been published by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management with recommendations around conditions but, critically, also around pay. Last week, negotiations between the LGMA and representatives of firefighters broke down because the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform had put constraints on management preventing them from making any proposals on pay.
We are now facing the prospect of industrial and strike action. Retained firefighters were balloted last year. Some 90% of them voted for industrial strike action. They are meeting on Friday to move forward with that action because of the failure of Government. My question to the Minister is about why there is a continuous failure by Government to address the crisis in the retained fire service.
Comment on this
What actions will Government take to address the immediate crisis in the service? That means providing money to address these major issues.
Comment on this
I know this is an area Deputy Brady has an active interest in. I would say, as he said, that Mr. Ultan Courtney was engaged by the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, at, I think, the behest of SIPTU. There were many facilitation discussions and I am told good progress was made, including progress on the provision of a revised model of retained fire service delivery that would provide for both effective service delivery and a suitable work-life balance, including structured time off. Mr. Courtney was not able to reach a positive conclusion to the satisfaction of all parties. We now need to see real and meaningful engagement.
Comment on this
Because of constraints put on him by the Government.
Comment on this
I encourage all parties to get back into a room and to continue to engage constructively on resolving the outstanding industrial relations issues.