Castleisland local election candidate, Kate McSweeney has called on unions and Kerry County Council management to clarify that Castleisland fire service will be maintained.
Following last year’s European Court of Justice ruling in the *Rudy Matzak case, which found that time a fire fighter spends on-call qualified as working time, many current practices within in the service in Ireland are now under review.
Fall-out from European Court Ruling
“There are local fears that the fallout from this ruling and the review now taking place could include the possible closure or scaling back of smaller part-time stations such as Castleisland,” said Ms McSweeney.
“If elected I will work to ensure the fire station and its workers remain a key part of the Castleisland area. The station does tremendous work in the area and it could have serious implications if closed or even scaled back.
Loss of Service to Local Area
“Obviously the fire personnels’ rights as defined in this judgement have to be upheld, however this does not have to result in any loss of service for areas like Castleisland.
“This would be another blow to rural communities where services are already being lost at an alarming rate.”
More on the Ruling…
*Anyone interested in reading more about the case for paid ‘stand-by time’ taken by Rudy Matzak can click on the link here: https://www.cesi.org/the-matzak-ruling-of-the-court-of-justice-of-the-european-union-a-positive-development-regarding-the-concept-of-working-time/
You can contact The Maine Valley Post on…Anyone in The Maine Valley Post catchment area who would like to send us news and captioned photographs for inclusion can send them to: jreidy@mainevalleypost.com
Queries about advertising and any other matters regarding The Maine Valley Post can also be sent to that address or just ring: 087 23 59 467.
Please Note: A click on any of our adverts will reveal all you need to know about what our advertisers need to tell you.
Copyright Notice: The images and text which appear on The Maine Valley Post site remain the exclusive property of John Reidy, (unless stated otherwise) and are protected under International Copyright laws. Images or text may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without the written permission of the author, John Reidy, in this instance. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration (digital, artist rendering or alike) is a violation of International Copyright laws. All images are copyrighted by John Reidy 2018.
