A firefighter has said their dispute with the Government will “escalate” if their demands are not met. 

Retained firefighters work part-time and are compensated with a retainment fee each year.

The Labour Court made a number of recommendations - including that the fee be increased by between 24% and 32.7%.

Trade union members found the recommendations unacceptable and some 2,0000 retained firefighters have returned to picket lines across the country.

Out in Bray, National Retained Firefighters Association member Brian Murray told Newstalk the Labour Court’s recommendations were not “what we hoped they would be”.

“Our message to the Government is stop sitting on your hands,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to escalate things… SIPTU, the NRFA [National Retained Firefighters Association of Ireland]  are sticking together.

“We won’t break, we won’t budge and until we get fixed time off and fixed pay, this is how it’s going to be and it will escalate.”

Mr Murray said all those out on strike were “proud to be members of Bray fire station” but that their pay and conditions did not reflect the value of their work.

“The outcome of this dispute has to be fixed time off and fixed pay,” he said.

“Our firefighters countrywide deserve to know every two weeks what they’re getting paid - just like everyone else.

“We deserve better at this stage - it’s 2023.

“The fire service does operational leave fixed for the 1940s, which is not good enough anymore.

“It’s an 80-year-old service… things just need to change.”

SIPTU Karen O’Loughlin Division Organiser said the Government needs to spend money if it is to reverse the “years of neglect” the fire service has endured.

“It is going to take years of resources to fix it and they should sit down and discuss how we can roll this out in an orderly fashion,” she said.

“[So, we can] avoid our members having to do the last thing they want to do, which is go on strike.”

Retained firefighters first went on strike in June last month.

Main image: Bray Fire Station