A dispute over the recruitment and retention of staff in the fire service is leading towards strike action.
SIPTU members will begin their campaign of industrial action on the 6th of June.
Firefighters from across the country who are members of the union will not co-operate with training and drills, however it's said that they will respond to emergency calls.
This includes almost two thousand Retained Firefighters from 200 fire stations in Ireland.
If the dispute over the recruitment and retention crisis in the fire emergency services is not resolved by the 20th of June, full strike action will begin.
SIPTU Retained Committee Chair Tom Kitterick has said that firefighters have had enough.
"58% of retained fire fighters intended to leave the retained fire services in the form of three years,”
“18 months have passed and people are leaving in droves, which would lead to a collapse in the retained fire services.”
“There won’t be a service across many stations if that’s followed through on.”
The Minister for Housing and Local Authorities, Darragh O'Brien, spoke to Beat some months ago, after firefighters were highly commended for their efforts at containing the fire that broke out in Wexford General Hospital and all patients were reported as safe.
At that time said he fully supports the work they do and he was open to talks with those campaigning for better standards within the service.
Talks have since broken down and have resulted in the firefighters turning to industrial action.
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