Watch: Demonstrations planned to reinstate Ballincollig Fire Station

A GROUP campaigning for the reopening of Ballincollig Fire Station is planning further public demonstrations in the weeks ahead, a spokesperson has said.

A demonstration by the Ballincollig Fire Station Campaign Group saw more than 100 people gather at Ballincollig’s Castlewest Plaza last Saturday afternoon, the second such recent protest to support striking Cork city firefighters.

The demonstrations were organised to highlight that Ballincollig Fire Station has been closed since November, 2021, while efforts by Cork City Council to recruit retained firefighters have proven unsuccessful.

The gatherings have demanded the immediate reinstatement of a full-time fire service for Ballincollig, and representatives from across the political spectrum have attended.

Last month, Siptu members employed as firefighters in Cork city began 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 the last 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”.

Ciaran McCarthy, a spokesperson for the Ballincollig Fire Station Campaign Group, said further demonstrations would follow.

“We will keep supporting our fire service, and we will keep demonstrating until such time as their reasonable concerns and needs are listened to by the executive of Cork City Council,” Mr McCarthy said.

Mags McKenna, who runs the popular Ballincollig Community Hub, said the people of Ballincollig would continue to campaign for a full-time fire station and crew, and, as she put it, to support a very stretched Cork City Fire Brigade.

“We feel like we’ve lost our identity in Ballincollig,” she said. “We are here to let city council know we have a voice. We need, and they need, our station open before something bad happens. We need Cork City Council to listen.”