Joanna Byrne advocates for firefighters at Sinn Féin Ard Fheis
Councillor Joanna Byrne, a long-time advocate for retained firefighters in Louth, used her speaking time at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis last weekend to highlight the plight of firefighters both locally and nationwide.
Councillor Byrne told delegates from across the 32 counties that “nationally, we are haemorrhaging highly trained firefighters on a monthly basis putting tremendous strain on remaining firefighters as in every county local authorities are struggling with recruitment, and more importantly retention of these front line staff.”
Highlighting the plight of retained firefighters locally she went on to say that the ranks of retained firefighters in Drogheda have never been at full complement since she joined the Council over five years ago.
“They have struggled to operate to full capacity and have spent a significant amount of time off the run” she said.
“This, in my view, demoralises them to the point of no return, leaves our communities in a less protected environment and also puts these firefighters in potentially life endangering situations whilst trying to carry out their duties.
“Issues with both recruitment and retention fall solely to the stringent criteria retained firefighters have to meet, i.e. excessive working hours and periods on call, insufficient rest periods and the tight turnout time to the station which is no longer feasible in many urban areas.”
Councillor Byrne made an impassioned plea to her party colleagues to support the motion tabled calling for the implementation of the EU Working Time Directive which, she said, will lay the foundation for the fundamental reform that the service is crying out for.
“The retained service is no more fit for purpose now in 2021 than it was in 2002 when the Independent Farrell Grant Sparks Report was presented to and ignored by, the then Minister for Housing.
“Since then the whole landscape of service delivery has changed even more as has the Demographic, Economic and Social profile of our towns since this archaic system was put in place. “Minister Darragh O’Brien needs to urgently review the whole model of local authority Retained Fire Service delivery, in fact I’d even go as far as to say we need a National Fire Service, and we need it now.”
“I’m very fortunate to know and work closely with our firefighters in Drogheda and I’m forever indebted to them for their continued commitment to our town, despite the challenges they face and despite the challenges Drogheda has faced in recent times.
“So I’m standing by them once again in supporting this motion and I’m asking you too to stand by your local firefighters too and vote in favour of this motion.”
Joanna’s motion was subsequently passed with overwhelming support which now makes it Sinn Féin party policy to support the implementation of the EU Working Time Directive.
