Over recent days. the Minister and his Government have trumpeted and celebrated the country's high employment figures. However, if we look under the bonnet, what workers are really facing is a crisis in their real wages, terms and conditions of employment and how far their wage packets are going. In recent weeks my colleague, Deputy Nash, has raised how the price of basic foodstuffs and essentials is pushing workers to the brink. Senator Marie Sherlock said in recent days that real wages in almost every sector of the economy have gone down for four successive quarters. That is why workers are on the verge of despair. I will focus on two key groups of workers. I am glad the Minister is present, because he has direct responsibility for these groups, namely water service workers and retained firefighters who will begin planned industrial action next week.

A series of concerns are outstanding for water workers and there will be a two-day strike action next week. Despite us being on the brink of that action, there are still no contingency plans coming from local authorities in respect of boil water notices or safety notices and no public information campaigns to go with them. The local authorities are ignoring this campaign for what is such a vital service. No commitment has been given to ensure workers who remain in local authorities will not be at a financial loss. That is a commitment they are waiting on, and they are waiting on the Minister to give it.

Next Tuesday, retained firefighters will also begin a campaign of industrial action. There are more than 2,000 retained firefighters in the country. In the constituency the Minister and I share, we have retained firefighters in Skerries and Balbriggan and they form a core part and pillar of our fire service. They are stalwarts of our community. We know they have to live within 2.5 km of the fire station,. They have to be within 3 km at all times, and all for what? It is all for €700 per month. If the Minister has not done so, I advise him to read the testimony of Niamh Folan, a retained firefighter in Galway, who spoke earlier this week to the Irish Independent. From 13 June, a series of rolling work stoppages will begin and then there will be an all-out strike on Tuesday, 20 June. The Minister brought a recent report on the review or retained firefighters to Cabinet in February and we are now in June. The report makes 13 recommendations and these workers want to know why their concerns are not being addressed and why this vital service continues to be run into the ground.

Will the Minister confirm what is being done to address the concerns of water service workers about potential loss of earnings if they stay with their local authorities? Why are local authorities not publishing and presenting contingency plans for the planned days of action? What is being done now to improve recruitment and retention of retained firefighters up and down the country to ensure the service is not only sustained, but flourishes and remains able to serve communities in the years to come?

I thank the Deputy for raising these two important issues. I will comment on the water service workers first. I have been actively engaged in this not just over the past few weeks but over the past number of months and the past two years, in particular under the water transformation programme, which aims to create a publicly-owned single water utility. We have had lots of engagement with union representatives right the way through that process and that process has worked very well. I gave a firm commitment that was sought by the unions that no one would be transferred to Uisce Éireann on a compulsory basis and that people would be transferred over with existing terms and conditions. All of this is confirmed in correspondence. I have met the unions directly. Those who decide to stay within the local government sector will also have their terms and conditions protected. We have been clear on that.

Very recently, following discussions with the unions and SIPTU in particular, they served notice of strike action. I wrote to the unions today recognising the progress that all parties have made in this regard and to ask them to engage with the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, to convene a meeting of the Irish Water consultative group as soon as possible to try to come to a resolution on the issues raised by SIPTU in this regard. Those issues specifically relate to overtime or allowances into overtime. I have said clearly those in receipt of allowances who decide to stay will get the requisite overtime in local authorities. We have also moved a long way by way of concessions. I have said the additional superannuation contribution will not apply to workers who move across to Irish Water and the engagement has been very good up to now. I encourage SIPTU and the worker representatives to engage through the industrial relations architecture within the State. These issues can be resolved. We are very close to a resolution. We all want a fit-for-purpose, modern, publicly-owned utility. We want workers who do not want to transfer over, and they do not have to, to stay in their jobs with the local authorities and their pay and conditions will be protected, as will their pensions. We are very close to getting there.

By the way, contingency plans are being worked through. I have discussed that with a number of chief executives and there are meetings today. I do not believe strike action is necessary. I have met the workers directly on a number of occasions and I have a good working relationship with them. On the idea the public would be in any way discommoded due to a strike action I do not believe is required, and I say that respectfully to the unions as well, a small number of issues remain that can be worked out. I will come back on the supplementary on the retained fire services.

The contingency plans are cutting it very fine for something so important. On the retained firefighters - and I want the Minister come back on this - this is a 24-7 commitment, 365 days a year. That huge sacrifice impacts on their professional careers, their ability to get mortgages and loans and it ties them physically to the towns and villages they are in. The cost of a fully staffed fire station would be substantially more than what we have with the retained service. The role is becoming increasingly less attractive. They are paid €700 a month giving an average income of €13,000 per year. If people anywhere in the country have a fire in their home, they expect a service to be there as soon as possible, yet we expect this service to operate at those levels. What assurances can the Minister give to ensure this dispute will be resolved?

On the broader, wider asks the union movement and civil society have on water, will he give a commitment on a referendum around public ownership of water? We have a referendum planned this year on care. Will we have one on water and indeed one on housing, which is also part of his brief?

On the last question , the Government has committed in the programme for Government to a referendum on water and one on housing, and I expect them to happen.

This year.

Specifically in relation to the retained firefighters-----

There are questions around the wording there.

I have only a minute to answer and I want to answer on the retained fire service, because I commissioned the report on the retained fire service in Ireland back in May 2021. We had 1,000 submissions to it, many from retained firefighters. I regularly meet retained firefighters from across the country, including in our constituency. Proposals have gone forward through the Local Government Management Agency directly to the unions on terms and conditions, especially the work-life balance. Rostering is a big issue for people as they are effectively on call 24-7. I will give the House a flavour of the number of things that have been offered already. These include an increase in staff numbers by approximately 20% with a minimum of 12 firefighters in all stations, structured time off, individual flexibility with regard to availability, 50 additional promotional positions, flexibility to attend calls when scheduled on leave, if desired, and retainer payments not reduced despite a much lower level of commitment to be available.

We are close to a resolution on this and a lot of good work has gone in on the basis of the 13 recommendations. We are continuing to engage with union representatives in this regard and I believe we can come to a resolution that will mean we can retain people within the fire service but attract more. There has been a big issue in attracting newer staff. We depend heavily on the retained fire service and indeed the full-time fire services across the country.