50% of fire stations across Cork are closed today as local retained firefighters escalate their industrial action.
A contingency plan has been activated across the county to cover emergency situations as today's rolling strikes are affecting half of fire stations in Cork and around the country.
The issue of the retained firefighters dispute which centres on pay and conditions will be raised directly with the Taoiseach in the Dáil today.
The intervention comes as the retained firefighters dispute enters its second week.
Two thousand of the State's 3000 firefighters are part-time retained firefighters and they are paid a basic €8500 retainer per annum plus a fee per call-out however there has been no adjustment in their pay structures for 20 years.
As a result there is a major recruitment and retention crisis in the service today.
The Transport Minister believes working conditions for fire fighters need to improve, to ensure the job works for them.
Minister Eamon Ryan says a resolution is in the hands of Minister Darragh O'Brien.
"I think they do an incredible job, and a lot of it comes from a voluntary tradition.
"That has to be manageable for them and their family life and their working life.
"Yes I think we should look at that, but I will leave it to the relevant Minister to work with them to make it sure it does work for them,
"They're doing a really important, really critical job across the country, and we have to make sure that it does work for them."
