Varadkar tells Mayo firefighters he's 'up for resuming talks'

AN Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that his Government is 'up for resuming talks' with the Unions representing striking retained firefighters after meeting some of those firefighters on a visit to Mayo.

Leo Varadkar met with three members of the Mayo Fire Service on his visit to Glencorrib this afternoon who informed him that firefighters are leaving the service due to conditions and they cannot be replaced.

The SIPTU National Retained Firefighter Committee recently rejected a recommendation by the Labour Court to resolve the dispute.

Speaking to the media this afternoon, Mr Varadkar said his Government accepted the Labour Court recommendations but it was willing to recommence talks with the representatives of retained firefighters.

“There were negotiations and they weren't successful and the matter was looked at by the Labour Court and the Labour Court made a recommendation. The Government accepted that but the Union unfortunately hasn't and that is unusual. All we can do now really is see if we can re-engage in discussion in talks to see if there is any way to modify that recommendation within the existing constraints. We are certainly up for resuming those talks.

“The Government wants to end the strike and the firefighters I have met around the country and here in Mayo don't want to be on strike. We very much value the service they provide for the community,” he said.

Earlier Mr Varadkar agreed to meet three retained firefighters, Tom Kitterick from Westport, Michael Vahey from Ballinrobe and Dermot Corcoran from Charlestown and listen to their concerns.

Mr Kitterick, who is the chair of SIPTU's National Negotiating Committee, told Mr Varadkar that the recommendations of the Labour Court will 'clearly not solve' the issues within the service particularly in rural areas.

“The fixed income is so small and you are trying to entice people to live within 2.5km of the fire station which is where the most expensive property is to rent. None of that will cut it and there needs to be more fixed income that can attract people into the service and keep people in it,” he told Mr Varadkar.

Mr Corcoran said that there are only seven retained firefighters in the Charlestown fire station when there needs to be six on call at any one time. He explained to Mr Varadkar that they cannot attract young people who want to have a standard of living which the fire service does not offer at the moment.

Mr Varadkar told the firefighters that he accepted that the conditions do not always work in rural areas compared to larger towns and hoped that they would be able to come up with an accepted agreement.