Another public demonstration planned as group reiterates call to reopen Ballincollig fire station
Cork fire fighters, locals and politicians at the protest at the closure of Ballincollig fire station. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
A new group campaigning for the reopening of Ballincollig Fire Station is planning a public demonstration for 2pm on Saturday, 20 May, at Ballincollig’s Castlewest Plaza.
The demonstration, which will be the second in just over a week, has been organised by the Ballincollig Fire Station Campaign Group to highlight that Ballincollig Fire Station has been closed since November 2021 while efforts to recruit retained firefighters have proven unsuccessful.
On Friday evening, some 200 people gathered outside Ballincollig Fire Station to show their support for striking Cork city firefighters.
That demonstration had been organised to demand the immediate reinstatement of a fulltime fire service for Ballincollig, and representatives from across the political spectrum attended.
Three weeks ago, SIPTU members employed as firefighters in Cork City commenced limited industrial action in a bid to see the station reopened, with members claiming that a lack of resources is “endangering members and public safety”.
At a council meeting last week, a Sinn Féin motion calling for the reopening of Ballincollig Fire Station “without delay, using full-time firefighters, while maintaining current crewing” was passed unanimously.
At last week’s meeting of Cork City Council, a Sinn Féin motion calling for the immediate reopening of Ballincollig Fire Station was passed unanimously.
The council has requested that the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) become involved, but a spokesperson for SIPTU told The Echo that the union would “require sight of the proposal … before we engage with the WRC”.
At Friday evening’s demonstration, one of the organisers, Mags McKenna, who runs the hugely popular Ballincollig Community Hub page on Facebook, predicted that meeting would not be the last.
“We got a good enough turnout for the first one, lads, the first of many in my eyes, because I don’t feel this ends here, this is just one, this is the start, this is our community saying ‘No, something needs to change,” Ms McKenna said.
Local Sinn Féin councillor, Eolan Ryng, who attended Friday’s demonstration alongside several councillors, party activists and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire TD, said it was fantastic to see people mobilising.
Former Lord Mayor and local councillor, Colm Kelleher, was part of a Fianna Fáil delegation which included several councillors and party members.
“This dispute now in my opinion has gone on for far too long, we’re 13 months down a rabbit hole and we’re none the wiser,” Cllr Kelleher said.
“We had a grand fire station pre the boundary extension and here we are almost four years on and we have no fire service.” Cllr Kelleher said he was appealing to all sides to get involved with the WRC and to make concessions as he firmly believed a solution was possible.
“It does however have to be acknowledged that the retained recruitment drive over the last two years has failed and failed abysmally,” he said.
Cllr Lorna Bogue of An Rabharta Glas said that in an expanding city it was not just necessary to hold onto existing services, those services needed to be grown.
“As far as I’m concerned, this is an executive decision but they are not making this decision on any evidence base whatsoever and I think the decision is challengeable,” Cllr Bogue said.
Fine Gael councillor Garret Kelleher praised the cross-community, cross-party support for the fire service.
“The recruitment efforts so far for Ballincollig simply have not been successful, and it’s time that Cork City Council accepts that and puts in the investment that’s required to deliver an improved service for an enlarged city,” Cllr Kelleher said.
Saturday’s demonstration by the Ballincollig Fire Station Campaign Group will occur at 2pm on 20 May, at Ballincollig’s Castlewest Plaza.
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