Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 7, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following:"11.—(1) A Civil Defence Expert Advisory Panel shall be established which will have the following function of advising the Minister in relation to all or any of the following:

(a) such policy matters relating to the operation and future development of civil defence as the Minister may request or as the Panel considers appropriate;

(b) the implementation of measures considered necessary for the effective operation of civil defence;

(c) any other matter relating to the Panel’s functions as the Panel considers appropriate or as requested by the Minister.

(2) The Panel shall consist of at least 8 but not more than 14 members who shall be appointed by the Minister.

(3) The members of the Panel shall be—

(a) the secretary general of the Department,

(b) a person nominated by the County and City Managers Association,

(c) a person nominated by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government who, in the opinion of that Minister, has relevant experience or expertise relating to emergency planning,

(d) a person nominated by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland,

(e) a person nominated by the Environmental Protection Agency,

(f) a member of the Civil Defence Officers Association nominated by it,

(g) an officer of the Defence Forces nominated by the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces,

(h) a member of the Garda Síochána nominated by the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, and

(i) a volunteer member of civil defence.

(4) In making appointments to the Panel under this section, the Minister shall ensure that not less than 4 of the members of the Panel shall be women and not less than 4 shall be men.

(5) The Civil Defence Expert Advisory Panel shall meet on a biannual basis.

(6) The Minister shall ensure that no cost is placed on the Exchequer in establishing this Expert Panel.".

As the Minister of State knows from Committee Stage, amendment No. 1 was ruled out of order because it would have incurred a cost to the Exchequer. We have amended it so that none of the representatives of the various organisations listed would be paid for their services. They would represent the organisations in partnership. The reason we have tabled the amendment is because while overall we do not have any particular objection to the existing board being closed down and brought back under the aegis of the Department of Defence, as it was previously, we have some concerns. The first of these is that within the existing board is a range of expertise, including the County and City Managers Association, representing local authorities throughout the State which administer Civil Defence and ensure the necessary personnel are on the ground and fully trained and able to respond to an emergency; the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, which is also emergency related; the Environmental Protection Agency; representatives of Civil Defence officers; the Defence Forces; and the Garda Síochána. It is key that within the new arrangements in the Department of Defence there is a dedicated structure which retains all of this expertise and analyses the overall Civil Defence plan to ensure it is fit for purpose.

The other amendment I have tabled deals with resources. In the existing criteria every local authority must put together a plan which it submits to the Civil Defence board in which the local authority outlines its priorities and strategies. A funding allocation is then made to the local authority. The difficulty now is that there does not appear to be within the Bill any clear criteria for how the Minister would deploy his or her resources. I appreciate it is made clear in the Bill that €70,000, which is not a huge sum of money, is being saved by this. No cut is being made to the budget.

The difficulty in this area is that there are a lot of cutbacks to local authorities, including huge changes to their budgets and consequently how they operate. It is very important that on an ongoing basis resources are there for training and re-training to deal with new techniques, equipment and health and safety processes. We want to ensure that all the strengths continue in operation. All of us are immensely proud of the work done by the Civil Defence teams. In the bad winter, from late 2010 to early 2011, County Donegal had freezing conditions for a sustained period of two months, as did the rest of the country. I was the chairperson of the roads and transport committee on Donegal County Council at the time. It was a case of putting all shoulders to the wheel, including the farming organisations. The Defence Forces were called out to inaccessible places and it was a remarkable team effort in which the Civil Defence played a key role. I am sure the Minister of State could cite as many such stories also, and he has been longer in politics than I have. We must continue to resource and value the professionalism and dedication of these local men and women. We need to continue availing of their range of skills.

Apart from that, we do not have any difficulties with the principle of the Bill.

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