Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all those involved in the Defence Forces and Civil Defence, in particular, for their tremendous work last week. Anything I say is not a slight on them or their work. It is more a question of how we can help them to provide even more assistance in the future.

The allocation for Civil Defence has been reduced from the figure of €5.1 million in 2016. I think it was down to €4.2 million in the budget for 2018. What is the reason for the reduction? Is it the drop in numbers? The numbers have been set out somewhere. If the numbers in Civil Defence are down, how do we attract more volunteers? Obviously, on the back of the Trojan work done last week, it might be an opportune time to remind people of the role played by Civil Defence and encourage them to join it. The allocation for Civil Defence in the 2017 Estimates was €5,240,000, not all of which was spent. A sum of €300,000 was not spent. The allocation in front of us is €4,240,000, which represents a reduction of €1 million, a substantial amount for such a small organisation. Will the Minister of State explain the reason for the reduction? The allocation for the Irish Red Cross is small. Obviously, its outrun was far higher because of the storms and the same could happen this year. We understand that in the event that there is storm damage, caused by floods in particular, the Irish Red Cross receives additional money, as it has during the years; therefore, I am not too worried in that regard. However, given the significant role played by it, does Civil Defence have enough equipment or does it need new equipment? Obviously, it will review its activities last week and the week before which might indicate, or perhaps not, that it needs more modern equipment. It is about the Department having a sense at this stage because if Civil Defence needs additional equipment, rather than having to wait until later in the year, the allocation of funding should be fast-tracked for additional or new equipment, given that there are red alerts more frequently.

I have other questions on other issues, which I hope to raise later.