Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Staff assigned to the Civil Defence Board have always been part of the overall authorised and serving numbers in my Department. Following the enactment of the Civil Defence Act 2002, my Department continued to provide administrative support services in respect of human resources, payroll, training, information and communications technology and so on for the staff of the board. The ongoing provision of these services will not be affected by the abolition of the board.

It is not expected that inefficiencies will arise as a result of the abolition of the Civil Defence Board. On the contrary, in terms of the transfer of its functions back to my Department, it is estimated that the savings in running costs will be at least €60,000 per annum. In addition, there will be an increase in the amount of time staff assigned to civil defence can devote to its core functions.

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