City Council urged to bring forward fresh proposal to resolve dispute with city firefighters 

A CORK TD has called on Cork City Council to “wake up and smell the coffee” and to now bring forward fresh proposals to resolve the dispute with the city’s firefighters.

Mick Barry, Socialist Party TD for Cork North Central, made the call in the wake of a unanimous rejection by firefighters of a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) proposal to end the dispute.

Mr Barry said proposals to end disputes were often accepted, sometimes rejected but it was rare to hear of a proposal which is rejected unanimously.

“If you ever wanted a clear indication from the city’s firefighters about how they feel on this issue, well, there you have it.

“Cork City Council need to wake up this morning and smell the coffee. They can’t be running a fire service in 2023 with the same number of firefighters they had back in 1974, end of story,” Mr Barry said.

The WRC proposal, which was presented to the firefighters last Monday night, outlined plans to create a day pump at Ballincollig Fire Station from 9am to 6pm, redeploying two members from Anglesea Street to crew the truck in Ballincollig, and for night-time fire cover to be provided from the Anglesea Street headquarters.

The WRC proposal, which was recommended for acceptance by Siptu trade union officials after talks facilitated by the WRC, was unanimously rejected.

After the rejection, firefighter and Siptu steward Billy Crowley said the dispute was not about money, but was rather about safe crew numbers for firefighting staff and for the people of Cork.

“Our main goal is to get a fire brigade that is the right size for the new city,” Mr Crowley told The Echo.

“The population has almost doubled, but we still have the same numbers that we had 50 years ago. You can’t run a city in 2023 with the number of firefighters you had in 1974. It is just impossible and it is not safe.

“The councillors, the people of Cork and the firefighters are are all calling for a full time fire station in Ballincollig. We can’t all be wrong.”

Mr Crowley said Cork firefighters would have no option but to escalate industrial action if further talks with the WRC are not forthcoming.