David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in and for the work they do, particularly the volunteers. We must remember they do not get paid. They might get meals or uniforms and that kind of thing but they are doing it on a voluntary basis, which is fantastic.

There was reference to professional and personal development. In 2022, 2,917 certificates were issued to members for attending courses and reaching certain standards, which is phenomenal. It is amazing.

I have a number of questions. I asked a question previously and I understand we received a written response. Maybe we can put it on the record. What is the gender breakdown in the Civil Defence with respect to men and women? Could the witnesses give us an indication of the age breakdown? I would like information on the diversity breakdown with respect to people from other countries, who we might call the new Irish. I understand there has been an issue with recruitment in the past while and the establishment is smaller than the number of active members at the moment. It will probably be recruiting shortly. Does it go into schools and talk to students in transition year, leaving certificate and so on? Has it thought about doing that at any stage?

The only criticism I have is that the work the Civil Defence is doing is kind of a hidden secret. I am hugely impressed. I get the impression of a professional, modern and competent organisation. I contend a lot of people do not know about the work it does and perhaps that is something that should be addressed by the Department and others. Every time we pick up the newspapers, it is all negative news. This is really positive. It is doing great work.

I refer to searching for missing persons. I was involved in establishing the National Missing Persons Day ten or 12 years ago. There is a search management software and a number of instructors are involved in missing persons cases. Ms Nolan might talk us through what is involved in becoming an instructor, the kind of skills they have to learn and what the software does. We would be quite interested in hearing that. In 2022, the Civil Defence was involved in 152 missing persons searches, which is amazing. Ms Nolan might give us a rough idea of the outcomes. There were some huge successes and some people were found, which is fantastic.

Drones have been covered and I will not go over that again. There are minimum training standards. I take it that every member has to reach those standards. Those standards alone are quite good. Do many people apply to join the Civil Defence or is it not actively recruiting because it knows it would be swamped if people knew what it had to offer?

Is there an upper age limit? The Chair might like to join. Senator Craughwell has spoken about going back. The lower age limit is 18.