Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. It is important legislation that is being introduced to enhance our readiness in the face of potential disasters and emergencies.

The original legislation dates back to 1951. Modernisation was proposed in the White Paper on Defence in 2015. As with a lot of these reports, they are left on a shelf to gather dust so I am happy to see that this proposal has made the light of day.

The Bill is designed to modernise and streamline the existing Civil Defence framework in Ireland with a focus on promoting co-operation between different agencies and stakeholders to ensure a co-ordinated and effective response to emergencies. It will establish a national Civil Defence agency which will have the responsibility of co-ordinating Civil Defence activities across the country.

I believe we should be going down the same road with the fire service. We should have a national fire service instead of 31 different services. The economies of scale alone in terms of equipment purchase would be beneficial. Also, the uniformity of having everyone receiving the same training on the same equipment and following the same procedures can only serve the public better, not to mention the savings on fire chiefs that could be put back into the front-line services.

Getting back to this Bill, it aims to enhance the role of volunteers in Civil Defence, recognising the valuable contribution they make to our communities. It provides for training and accreditation of volunteers as well as setting out the duties and responsibilities of volunteer organisations.

The past three years have shown us the importance of being prepared for emergencies. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought many challenges and hardships and highlighted the need for a co-ordinated and effective response to emergencies of any scale.

My local service in Kildare does great work and I often feel that much of it goes under the radar. It is important to acknowledge the valuable contribution they make. I suppose many people would be aware of them where there is flooding. I am thinking particularly of the Athy area of the Kildare South constituency because they would have an issue around that. It is fantastic to see local people committed to their communities. It is vital that we support them when we face episodes of unpredictable and extreme weather, including in the future due to climate change.

The elephant in the room, unfortunately, is money. The Department of Defence, as others have said, provides 70% of the funding and local authorities have to come up with the other 30%. This presents obvious challenges for them given the meagre funding they receive from central Government. The local authorities must be properly funded to ensure that all services are delivered in an efficient way and to ensure that the public is being served satisfactorily.

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