Firefighters end demonstrations after proposals settled in WRC

CORK city firefighters who have been demonstrating since April in a dispute over staffing at Ballincollig Fire Station have ended their action following the acceptance of proposals settled at the Workplace Relations Commission.

The long-running dispute was sparked after city-centre crews were tasked to respond to emergency calls in the Ballincollig area after efforts to recruit retained firefighters for the station were unsuccessful.

Firefighters expressed their concern about the arrangement, as they said their resources were being spread too thinly to cope with the demand.

The proposal will see the introduction of a fourth pump to the brigade, which will be operated and crewed out of Anglesea St headquarters.

The proposal does not provide for the reopening of Ballincollig Fire Station, which had become a key public focus of the dispute in recent months.

But the proposal says the fourth pump is expected to have a presence in Ballincollig during daytime hours.

Ballincollig Fire Station has been closed since November 2021.

This proposal will be ready for implementation on Sunday, September 17, and it is expected that there will be a lead-in time of four weeks to give the parties time to work towards having the operational aspects of the proposal fully defined.

INTERIM

The interim arrangement will operate until June 17, 2024, during which both sides agree to a review at the end of January 2024.

Fianna Fáil councillor for Cork City South-West Colm Kelleher welcomed the agreement that a fourth pump would be reinstated in Cork city, but said the detail needs to be worked out.

“I welcome the reinstatement of the fourth pump, albeit there is a line in the agreement that it would be based out of Anglesea St and would have a presence in Ballincollig,” he said.

“There’s going to be a four-week lead-in of operational exercise carried out to see how that can be achieved.

“I welcome the reinstatement of the fourth pump, but I would be hoping that, even though it’s based out of Anglesea St, that it could come out here [to Ballincollig] on a daytime basis and open our station on a daytime basis.”

Mr Kelleher called for clarity on what a presence in Ballincollig will mean, and said the operational side of the agreement needs to be worked out.

He said his main priority going forward is to see the reopening of the fire station in Ballincollig, which he said has been closed for “far too long”.