Local authority employees and other union members currently engaged in industrial action will work as required to deal with the impact of Storm Austen.
Fórsa and Siptu, the two largest unions involved in work-to-rule as part of the public sector pay dispute, confirmed that there are specific clauses for automatic derogations from industrial action in cases where there is a serious threat posed to life or wellbeing. Where derogations need to be requested, they are almost always granted immediately.
Dublin City Council said on Wednesday that its flood response team was “preparing for the potential impacts of heavy rainfall across the city and has put measures in place to respond quickly should localised flooding occur”.
“As part of these preparations, crews are clearing fallen leaves and debris where necessary, particularly in low-lying and flood-prone areas, where drainage gullies can become obstructed during periods of heavy autumn rainfall. Dublin City Council crews will be on the ground overnight monitoring conditions and responding to any issues that may arise,” it said.
It asked that members of the public refrain from parking over drains and report urgent cases of flooding. Council staff will “continue to monitor weather forecasts and conditions closely and provide updates as necessary through its website and social media channels”.
Asked about its staffing situation, a spokesperson for the council said it relies on a voluntary code of practice agreed with the unions. This is based on a Workplace Relations Commission code that provides for “the maintenance of essential public services the disruption of which could endanger life or health, or cause serious damage to the national economy or widespread hardship or anxiety to the community or large sections of the community”.
Siptu, meanwhile, said it was working with councils and other providers of emergency services to ensure these were maintained without disruption.
“There’s a derogation blueprint,” said Con Casey, an official with responsibility for staff at Kerry and Tipperary County Councils. “We’ve had requests in from those two councils and other officials will have heard from the local authorities they deal with.
“There’s preparatory work to be done in situations like this to limit the damage caused and then there will be work to be done during and after the storm where trees have come down or there has been flooding. In many cases staff will be working with contractors but there is no issue with granting the derogations required as long as the work is directly related to the storm.”
It is understood other unions are similarly co-operative where required in such circumstances.
Met Éireann said Storm Austen will “track past Ireland’s south coast from Thursday evening to Friday morning, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to many areas”.
[ Storm Austen approaches as Met Éireann issues orange warnings for six countiesOpens in new window ]
The forecaster issued status-orange rainfall warnings for Cork, Kerry and Waterford, which will be the first counties to be impacted by the heavy rain on Thursday night. Later in the night, a status-orange rainfall warning for counties Dublin, Wexford and Wicklow will come into effect.
“There is a risk of flooding across parts of the south, southeast and east for Thursday into Saturday associated with heavy rainfall,” Met Éireann said. “Small, mountainous, upland and urban catchments are most at risk, as they can respond rapidly to periods of intense rainfall.
“River levels are expected to rise across Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Wicklow, Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Kilkenny, Dublin and parts of the surrounding counties, potentially resulting in rivers exceeding their banks and flooding is expected. A nationwide status-yellow rain and wind warning has been issued from Thursday evening through to Friday morning.“