S.I. No. 420/2024 - Local Government Act 2001 (Retirement of Firefighters) Regulations 2024

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 30th August, 2024.

I, DARRAGH O’BRIEN, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 158 (1) (ba) (inserted by section 10 of the Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024 (No. 30 of 2024)) of the Local Government Act 2001 (No. 37 of 2001) with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, hereby make the following regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Government Act 2001 (Retirement of Firefighters) Regulations 2024.

(2) These Regulations come into operation on 19 August 2024.

2. In these Regulations—

“firefighter” means—

(a) a full-time employee of a fire authority whose duties include attendance at fires, or

(b) a retained firefighter;

“fire authority” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9 of the Fire Services Act 1981 (No. 30 of 1981);

“medically fit” in respect of a firefighter, means a medical examination arranged or approved of by the fire authority employing or engaging the firefighter and undergone by the firefighter, as deemed appropriate by the fire authority, before the start of the year in respect of each year he or she wishes to serve beyond that age;

“retained firefighter” means a person, who is not a full-time employee of a fire authority, retained by the fire authority to attend at an incident if alerted and is paid a retainer for his or her availability.

3. (1) Subject to Regulation 4, a firefighter shall retire—

(a) upon attaining age of 55 years, or

(b) where the firefighter wishes to serve beyond that age and the fire authority who employs him or her is satisfied that he or she is medically fit to continue to serve as a firefighter upon attaining that age but not beyond attaining the age of 62 years.

(2) Where a firefighter is declared under paragraph (1)(b) not to be medically fit to continue to serve as a firefighter, he or she shall retire.

4. These Regulations do not apply to firefighters whose existing terms and conditions of service provide for a minimum retirement age in excess of 65 years or a mandatory retirement age in excess of 62 years.

The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform consents to the making of the forgoing Regulations.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

8 August, 2024.

PASCHAL DONOHOE,

Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

15 August, 2024.

DARRAGH O’BRIEN,

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

This Regulation provides for the retirement of firefighters (fulltime and retained) at age 55, but allows firefighters who are medically fit to continue to serve as firefighters up to age 62.