A disgruntled construction worker who yesterday climbed a 52ft crane to protest at what he claimed was his employer's failure to comply with legal obligations, has been sacked.

SIPTU union official Paul Hansard was helped down the crane by the Fire Brigade seven hours into his protest after he said it may have gotten too cold to attempt to climb down safely by himself.

Mr Hansard and his son, Dean, were both fired over the drastic act.

The pair had been working as scaffolders for a sub-contractor (G Mac Scaffolding) on the new Sean O'Casey Community Centre in the East Wall area of Dublin and took the radical action after their new employer refused to include Mr Hansard on a mandatory pension scheme.

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He told RTÉ News it would be completely inappropriate for him as Chairman of SIPTU's Dublin Construction Branch, to work in a non-compliant company.

"As the chairman of Siptu's construction branch I could not live with myself working with a non-compliant sub-contractor and I wasn't prepared to do so," he said.

However, his employer, G Mac Scaffolding, based in Strabane, Co Tyrone strenuously refuted the claim. Gearoid McGarrigle, Director of G Mac denied his firm had acted outside the law and insisted both men had been signed up for pensions.

"As far as I'm concerned the issue has been resolved and they no longer work for Gmac," he said.

"I'm above board in everything I have done. They have never ever once rung me to ask for clarification to say if they were signed up, or if they weren’t signed up."

However, Siptu officials, who are meeting with PJ Hegarty and Sons again tomorrow, said they had received assurances that G Mac would be taken off the site until an investigation was complete.

(VB/JM)