I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding retained firefighters. On Tuesday, 15 November 2022, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 80(2), that division must be taken now.
Retained Firefighters: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy John Brady on Tuesday, 15 November 2022:
That Dáil Éireann:
acknowledges that:
— Retained Firefighters provide an invaluable service to their communities;
— the role of our emergency front line defenders, including Retained Firefighters, involves considerable personal sacrifice; and
— increased capital investment, new stations and equipment is meaningless if there is not an adequate number of firefighters to staff these stations;
recognises that:
— the recruitment and retention level of Retained Firefighters is at crisis level;
— due to current staffing shortages, the demands being placed upon current members of retained fire services are unsustainable;
— the ongoing failure to address the problems of retained fire services is putting the health and safety of both its members and the public in danger; and
— the current model of management of Retained Firefighters in Ireland is not fit for purpose;
notes that:
— a recent survey carried out by Coyne Research for the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage revealed that:
— the current crisis in retention and recruitment is forcing Retained Firefighters to work extra hours to make up for staffing shortages, where they forgo time off to spend with family, which is not a role conducive to family life and the retainer they receive does not come close to compensating them for the sacrifices that they make;
— the current conditions offer little incentive for new recruits to the retained fire service, and it is seen by many as a thankless role with little or no personal benefit;
— some 60 per cent of Retained Firefighters intend to leave the service in the near future, many within the next year; and
— the strain of being on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in understaffed fire stations, with little hope of promotion, is having a significant impact on morale, and many highly trained, highly motivated individuals, who love the fire service and are committed to serving their communities, are being forced out of the job;
— the impact of the continuing loss of experience is devastating to both the retained fire service, and the communities which they serve; and
— responsibility for the current crisis in recruitment and retention of Retained Firefighters ultimately lies with Government policy, and not local authorities, and it is ultimately the responsibility of Government to resolve the crisis in retained fire services;
condemns:
— the lack of political leadership from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien TD, to resolve the issues which have led to the retention and recruitment crisis in retained fire services;
— the failure of the Government to meaningfully engage with representative bodies acting on behalf of Retained Firefighters, which has forced the National Retained Firefighters Association to ballot its members for industrial action; and
— the delay in publishing the review of the model of local authority "retained" fire services delivery which commenced in May 2021, and was reported by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to be at an early drafting stage in February of this year;
mandates the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to urgently engage with representative bodies acting on behalf of the Retained Firefighters; and
calls on the Government to set up a cross-party Oireachtas Joint Committee to:
— conduct a full and independent review of how the national fire service is delivered across the State;
— sit for a set period of four months;
— undertake a wide consultation of witnesses and key stakeholders to examine pay, conditions, and management structures of retained fire services; and
— bring forward a report on their key recommendations.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"acknowledges that:
— Retained Firefighters are highly committed frontline responders providing an exceptional service within their communities;
— the retained fire service has been shown to be highly effective in dealing with a wide range of emergencies, working closely with other emergency services;
— the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has directed the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management to complete a review of the recruitment, retention and future sustainability of the retained fire service, with the findings and recommendations of this review to be submitted to the Minister in December 2022; and
— the preliminary findings of the current review clearly demonstrate the need to adapt the existing service delivery model, to enable a good work-life balance for Retained Firefighters and to promote the strengths inherent in the retained fire service;
recognises that:
— fire service policy in Ireland is based on Keeping Communities Safe - A Framework For Fire safety in Ireland, that sets out a risk management approach to service provision, defining fire service roles, response standards and service delivery structures;
— it is clear from the preliminary findings of the current review that the work-life balance for Retained Firefighters needs to be addressed to make the retained fire service an attractive employment option, and this will require significant redesign of the current rostering model;
— it is also clear that while there is a need to address the problems being encountered in attracting and retaining Retained Firefighters generally, a focus needs to be placed on ensuring that the retained fire service is seen as a career where women too can develop and have a satisfying career;
— comprehensive updates on the progress of the report have been positively received by the Fire Services National Oversight and Implementation Group (FSNOIG), with broad agreement that the survey outcomes are reflective of previous feedback received directly from retained fire service members;
— the FSNOIG remains the appropriate forum for feedback on the review and implementation of the recommendations; and
— implementing the recommendations of this review should commence as soon as possible at national and local level, with an emphasis on continued engagement with all stakeholders; and
notes that:
— while there is significant urgency in moving forward with the implementation of this review's recommendations, the capacity and the resilience of the fire service has been shown to be robust through an external validation process in 2016, and a capacity review in 2020;
— while the recruitment and retention issues are serious, it is important nevertheless to place these issues in the context of a service that has repeatedly been shown to be operationally ready and resilient, as demonstrated by the very strong response by the retained fire service throughout the Covid-19 public health emergency;
— retained fire services operate an Incident Command System supported by standard operating guidelines, with appropriate risk control measures, which underpin the highest levels of operational safety to protect fire crews responding into hazardous situations;
— a figure of 4.3 deaths per million of population of fire fatalities positions Ireland among countries with very low fire fatality rates;
— the Fire Service Capital Programme 2021-2025 is in place, supporting the construction of new fire stations, procurement of fire appliances and necessary equipment, with an allocation of €61 million; and
— the number of frontline fire service staff have been maintained at a consistently high level, even at a time when staffing numbers were, of necessity, reduced in other areas of local authorities, and there are currently 218 fire stations throughout the country with 3,245 serving fire service personnel, of whom 1,206 are full-time and 2,039 are retained on a 24-hours a day basis."
- (Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 72; Níl, 61; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Butler, Mary.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carey, Joe.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Collins, Niall.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Cowen, Barry.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donnelly, Stephen.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Harris, Simon.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Martin, Catherine.
- Martin, Micheál.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Noonan, Malcolm.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Smyth, Ossian.
- Stanton, David.
- Troy, Robert.
- Varadkar, Leo.
Níl
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Barry, Mick.
- Berry, Cathal.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Browne, Martin.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Cairns, Holly.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Joan.
- Collins, Michael.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McNamara, Michael.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Murphy, Verona.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Richard.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shanahan, Matt.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Duncan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tully, Pauline.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
- Wynne, Violet-Anne.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Jack Chambers and Brendan Griffin; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared carried.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 7.21 p.m. go dtí 9 a.m., Déardaoin, an 17 Samhain 2022.
The Dáil adjourned at 7.21 p.m. until 9 a.m. on Thursday, 17 November 2022.