Two out of 140 city firefighters are women

There are just two female firefighters out of 140 in the Cork City Council’s Fire Service, while a little over 4% of Cork County Council’s firefighters are women.

Labour’s Ciara O’Connor tabled a motion on the topic in the most recent council meeting, saying that the figures represent a “significant and systemic failure in achieving gender equality”.

She said that a recent report into the fire service calls for the council to review recruitment processes to increase gender and ethnic diversity. The report found that the service should also recognise that existing operational gear, protective clothing, and equipment were designed with men in mind, and fail to meet the safety and comfort needs of female firefighters.

A written response from the council’s director of emergency management, David Joyce, and director of people, Mike Larkin, explained that the council has undertaken many initiatives to promote diversity in the fire service.

They added: “The number of female firefighters within the fire service is dependent on many factors (many of which are outside of the control of Cork City Council), and include the number of applicants — which remain low despite the initiatives undertaken.”

“The attractiveness of such a physical role with unsociable hours, in an economy with extensive employment opportunities across many different disciplines and work areas” are also factors. 

However, they added: “Under no circumstances are there any artificial barriers put in place to negatively impact on the recruitment of female firefighters.

“A career as a firefighter makes exceptionally high physical demands in respect of certain operations involving firefighting and rescue duties. Employees of the fire service must be capable of performing these tasks at all times.”

Modern firefighting PPE and equipment is ergonomically designed around all genders, while infrastructure, facilities, equipment, and uniforms are also gender appropriate, inclusive, and safe for all personnel, they added.

Ms O’Connor commended the fire service for its work, saying: “They protect this city with such skill, and nothing in this motion challenges their integrity. This is just about striving for equality.”

Cork city’s 1.4% of female firefighters is considerably lower than the rate in the county area at 4.3%. A Cork County Council spokesperson told The Echo: “We currently have 10 female firefighters out of a county-wide total firefighter number of 235. The number of female firefighters in each station varies. We have four female fire-fighters out of 12 in our Crosshaven Fire Station. However, 25% of our professional senior fire officers are females. If you combine all members of the fire service, we have approximately 34% of females working with us.”