Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 27: To ask the Minister for Defence his responsibility regarding the Civil Defence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46256/10]

John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Defence the strength and budget for the Civil Defence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46253/10]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 27 and 39 together.

The Civil Defence Board was established pursuant to the Civil Defence Act 2002 to co-ordinate the operation and future development of the Civil Defence at national level. While the board gives advice on policy issues, responsibility for policy and political accountability to the Oireachtas for the discharge of the board's functions remain with the Minister for Defence. In accordance with the Act, the board must submit to the Minister a three-year strategic plan setting out its key objectives and strategies. In June of this year, I launched the third strategic plan of the Civil Defence Board, which covers the period from 2010 to 2013. The strategies identified by the board place a high priority on the organisation's involvement in developing training and recruitment programmes and in the framework for major emergency management, which identifies a wider role for the Civil Defence in emergency response.

In 2010, the Civil Defence Board received a grant of €6.061 million, almost €1 million of which was allocated for the purchase of equipment. This has enabled the board to equip volunteers to a high standard. The board has re-equipped all of its casualty trained volunteers with up-to-date training manuals, DVDs and instructional material, thereby bringing the organisation into line with the statutory requirements laid down by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council. The Civil Defence College is a recognised certifying body for the preparation and delivery of courses approved by statutory and other national bodies such as the Further Education and Training Awards Council and the Irish Heart Foundation. This accreditation, combined with the diverse range of training available to volunteers, is of great assistance to those who wish to develop career opportunities outside the Civil Defence.

The board's strategic plan identifies the marketing of the capabilities of the Civil Defence as an important strategy. While the recruitment of Civil Defence members is a local authority function, the Civil Defence Board encourages and supports local authorities to undertake recruitment campaigns. The board supports such recruitment initiatives through the provision of additional publicity material and media training for Civil Defence officers and other supports that help to enhance the image of the Civil Defence. Targeted recruitment programmes also take place in the form of public awareness campaigns and new training classes at various locations around the country. Earlier this year, the board compiled a volunteer database to give an accurate reflection of the numbers in the organisation and enable the board and local authorities to target recruitment campaigns as required. Development work on the database has been completed. The population of the database is under way at local authority level. The national membership strength, as obtained from local authorities earlier this year, is approximately 4,750. Significant numbers of Civil Defence officers on the ground are reporting an increase in membership. This is a very positive development for the future of the Civil Defence.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. Has he received any advice on policy issues relating to Civil Defence matters, or any proposals in that regard, from the board in recent years?

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I had a number of meetings with Civil Defence personnel when I visited various places around the country. I had a long interaction with members of the Civil Defence Board, including its chairman, when I went to Roscrea for the launch of the three-year plan. Considerable thought has been given to how the Civil Defence might be developed. In the past, there were concerns because the Civil Defence reports to the Department of Defence at one level, but at another level is part of the local authority system through Civil Defence officers. Some of the advantages of that structure came to light when the deployment of Civil Defence personnel was a huge advantage to local authorities during the adverse weather conditions of recent weeks and of earlier this year. Some Civil Defence vehicles are suitable for all-terrain work and for use as ambulances. The trained personnel who use such vehicles, particularly when dealing with difficult weather events, make a significant and positive contribution to the work of local authorities.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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One of the functions of the Civil Defence Board is to advise the Minister for Defence on policy issues. Has the Minister received any such advice in the last year or two? Has the board proposed any initiatives during that time? Has he received any proposals from the board regarding initiatives or policy matters? The making of such proposals is one of the functions of the board.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The board has been very proactive in interacting with departmental officials on the issues that arise. The importance of the volunteer programme initiative, which is close to completion, has been demonstrated. The initiative, which is particularly vibrant, has been successful in drawing the attention of the public to the existence of the Civil Defence and the advantages to volunteers of membership of the Civil Defence. It is fair to say that recruitment drives in some local authority areas have enjoyed considerable success. The efforts in other areas have been less successful. Concerns have been expressed about the availability and quality of training. Very good facilities are available at the headquarters in Roscrea. The Civil Defence also retains a training facility in the Phoenix Park. Its close association with the Irish Heart Foundation has been a positive development. Many of its courses are now accredited by the Further Education and Training Awards Council. I understand this initiative came from the board itself. It is important that independently verified and accredited qualifications are available. Other issues relating to insurance, etc., have also been successfully addressed.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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It strikes me that vehicles are available at local level to many organisations, including the Civil Defence, the Irish Red Cross, the Order of Malta and the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland. In light of the current Exchequer position, there is a major case for making every effort to co-ordinate the activities of the organisations I mentioned with those of the Reserve Defence Force, which we discussed earlier. If we are to encourage people to get involved in the Civil Defence, it must be made more attractive. It needs to get involved in other activities that are attractive to young people. We seem to be making contributions to statutory and voluntary bodies, such as the Civil Defence, that are doing the same work, such as providing assistance at local level during bad weather. If a programme of co-operation and co-ordination were established and maintained in an ongoing way, the whole operation would be more attractive for those involved and the public at large would get a much more streamlined and co-ordinated service in vital areas.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has made a fair point about the particular challenge we face in this regard. The organisations he mentioned, each of which has a huge voluntary element, have successfully maintained relatively high membership levels. Some of them have found the challenge more difficult than others. The need for co-ordination arises most dramatically in circumstances like those of the last two weeks, which were also experienced in November 2009 and January 2010. The additional opportunities to deploy personnel in these circumstances, during real and contrived exercises, led to clear improvements during the most recent spell of bad weather, by comparison with the previous spells. Each of the organisations mentioned by the Deputy - the Reserve Defence Force, the Civil Defence, the Irish Red Cross and the Order of Malta, etc. - has its own role to play. It is interesting that some of these organisations have strong bases in certain geographical areas. The Reserve Defence Force, which we discussed earlier, has some enormously strong pockets of involvement, membership and recruitment. This success story is not always replicated elsewhere. Some of the other organisations are particularly strong in certain areas. That can be attributed in part to the personnel in those areas being in a position to drive the organisations in question. It is also a function of the attractiveness to young people of the particular organisation. We are speaking specifically about civil defence. One of the great attractions for young people is the fact that FETAC-approved courses are available which might be of assistance in terms of their employment prospects, quite apart from personal development. That is something we try to highlight to the greatest extent possible, but there is an enormous challenge in attracting people into such organisations, to keep them viable at local level.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Will the Minister say what the age limits are for civil defence, both lower and upper, and what involvement there is between civil defence and the schools?

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I do not have the information on age limits off the top of my head, and I shall have to come back to the Deputy on that. In some areas there is considerable interaction with schools. While travelling around the country I have asked civil defence officers and others I have met about something which was very common in my youth, namely, the provision of first aid classes to a very high standard in relatively small rural communities. That had an enormous level of availability in my area, mainly through civil defence, while in other areas it was provided by the Red Cross and others. It seems to me to be an enormous advantage to civil society to have that type of skill available.

A number of things have happened. Standards have risen, of course, and regulation as regards the provision of training is at a very high level. The cost of the provision of some of these courses is very high, perhaps prohibitive in some instances, but it is something that could be usefully looked at, nonetheless.

That is not quite the point Deputy Stanton is referring to in terms of direct interaction with schools, I appreciate, which is very positive in some areas. The argument has been made to me that organisations such as civil defence and a number of others could be proactively involved in providing, for example, first aid courses in schools in transition year or whatever. This is something that has not really been scoped, and in an ideal world it should be available universally. That seems to me to be a considerable challenge, although at a considerable cost.