Third day of rolling strike action underway for retained firefighters across the country

A third day of rolling strike action in the retained fire service takes place today in Carlow, Kilkenny, and nationwide.

SIPTU says fire service management must take sole responsibility for the chaotic scenes in fire stations around the country.

The union believes there’s been a general strategy of non-cooperation from management since the start of the dispute.

It claims phone calls are not being answered when firefighters contact the station from the scenes of incidents, and management is not deploying the required number of appliances to them.

Meanwhile, KCLR News understands that in counties where a full level of cover cannot be provided, cover will instead be provided on a 50% rotational basis.

This means in those counties, 50% of stations will be closed at one time with closures rotating each day and cover being given from the next nearest station.