City councillor backs calls for Ballincollig Fire Station to be reopened 

A BALLINCOLLIG-based councillor has said efforts to recruit retained firefighters for the local station have “effectively failed” and has called for Cork City Council to crew the station with full-time staff.

Siptu members employed as firefighters in Cork City began their industrial action last week in an effort to see Ballincollig Fire Station re-opened.

Ballincollig Fire Station has been closed since late 2021 as efforts to recruit for a retained fire service have been unsuccessful.

The industrial action commenced last Thursday with a protest by firefighters as they ended their shift at Anglesea Street Fire Station.

At present the action primarily affects administrative duties.

Speaking to The Echo, local Fianna Fáil councillor Colm Kelleher said firefighters feel they have been “backed into a corner” in taking the action due to the delay in finding a resolution to the matter.

“The retained recruitment campaign has effectively failed, through nobody’s fault,” he said.

Mr Kelleher encouraged both sides to engage with the Workplace Relations Commission in a bid to end the dispute. In the interim, I agree with the firefighters that they [Cork City Council] should allow a service to go out there and man it.

“In relation to the actual fire service itself, I do support a full-time fire service in Ballincollig.

“I feel it is needed with the size of the population.

“The economic climate has changed in relation to employment and it’s very difficult to ask someone from the retained service, particularly from an urban area, to constantly be on call.

“I believe a retained service works brilliantly in non-urban areas but I believe with the fact that we are such a large urban area and part of an expanded city, I personally believe a retained service isn’t adequate for the fire safety needs of Ballincollig,” Mr Kelleher continued.

Speaking to The Echo last week, Billy Crowley, firefighter and union representative with Cork City Fire Brigade, said Ballincollig Fire Station must be reopened immediately. “They [Cork City Council] have spent two and a half years now trying to recruit retained personnel for it. That has not worked.

“If they want to spend another two and a half years trying it, that’s fine, but it needs to be reopened now with the personnel we have and as soon as they can get enough qualified and trained retained personnel, we’ll happily walk out and let the retained guys crew the station but in the interim, it needs to be opened now,” he stressed.

Mr Crowley said Siptu members are seeking “concrete, meaningful proposals” to end the dispute.

In a statement last week, Cork City Council said it is “committed to engaging in meaningful and focused discussions with all parties involved and to using the established industrial relations machinery of the State to agree a path forward to resolve matters”.

It added that council management was “disappointed that union members have chosen to mount an industrial action when the council had already made itself available for discussions”.