Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 7 March 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence
Update on Civil Defence: Discussion
Mr. Aidan Dillon:
We have a critical incident stress management system, CISM, which is well established within the Civil Defence. As part of their induction, all of our people get some training in this. We have people in each unit trained in it. After an incident such as the recovery of a body from a river, there is a structure in place whereby volunteers are taken aside. It is sometimes referred to as "tea and buns," but we keep in touch and support our volunteers through that. We are linked into the Defence Forces, and some psychological support services from the Defence Forces have occasionally been deployed, when necessary, to do some work with the volunteers. Finally, there is a 24-7 helpline available to all of our volunteers if they are having particular issues. That is also available to them.