Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Section 16 refers to the register being kept of the local Civil Defence membership and that local authorities are obliged to keep a register. In turn that register may be available to the county manager, or a person designated by him or her, to the Minister or to a Civil Defence member. Why is it that the membership of the local authority in its entirety is excluded from the categories of people who might be allowed to view that register? Given that local authority members are spread out across their area of responsibility they engage on an ongoing basis with members of Civil Defence.

They have a knowledge of the key role people play in local communities. Why it is that, for example, even the mayor of a county might not be designated as someone who could have access to the register?