Politics
Explainer: why are the country’s retained fire fighters going on strike?
The dispute is the culmination of years of unrest about pay and conditions for the country’s 2,000 part-time firefighters
What do retained firefighters do?
There are two different types of firefighters in the country – full time firefighters and part-time firefighters. The 1,000 full time firefighters are largely based in three cities - Dublin, Cork city and Galway city.
Fire services in the rest of the country are provided by 2,000 part-time firefighters, known as retained firefighters. They usually have other jobs but are constantly available for call-outs. They are based in around 200 ...