Clare fire stations prepare to shut for strike action

by Páraic McMahon paraic@clareecho.ie

ALL fire stations in Clare will be shut from Tuesday unless a breakthrough is made in efforts to improve the pay and working conditions of retained firefighters.

Rolling closures of fire stations in the county came into effect this week with Ennis, Killaloe and Kilrush closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Shannon and Kilkee will be shut on Thursday and Friday with Scariff closed on Friday and Saturday and Ennistymon also impacted (Thursday, Sunday and Monday).

Ennis firefighter, Mark Hayes told The Clare

Echo, “We’ve given them every opportunity that we can, it is going on for the last four years, we’ve given them as much time as we can but unfortunately it has come to this and we have to keep going at it”. He added, “We joined the service to help people but it is getting harder and harder”.

Cllr Liam Grant (GP) who also serves as a retained firefighter in Ennistymon warned, “go back to Stardust, it changed fire regulations because a disaster happened, I’m worried it is going to take another disaster for change to happen. Shannon is a big concern, a big disaster could happen, it’s not just for firefighters but for public safety”.

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