Labour Court recommends €500 each for six retained firefighters in Kilkenny

The Labour Court recommended that Kilkenny County Council pay €500 to each of six retained firefighters as a goodwill gesture, in a recommendation dated 5 December 2024. The dispute followed the Council's use of the Sharkey test instead of the Chester Step Test specified in a collective agreement, leading to the six firefighters being stepped down. The Council accepted that it had breached the agreement, while saying firefighters deemed medically unfit could not return until medically cleared. SIPTU said the agreed test had been the Chester Step Test and sought compensation for members who had been stepped down. By the hearing, the Council was using the Chester Step Test and all but one retired member had passed it and returned to duty. The Court noted a delay between the agreement being brought to the Council's attention in March 2023 and the test becoming available in August 2023, during which the firefighters could not be retested.