Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I welcome this Bill. Like other contributors, I acknowledge the great work of each Civil Defence unit in every county around the country. I thank the volunteers for the time they give to each and every community they serve. They are highly motivated and highly trained. They come from all across our workforce. As Senator McDowell said, people join who are, for example, nurses and ambulance drivers. I know so many people who are embedded in the community in different roles in their day jobs and they then give those skills to the Civil Defence on our behalf.

We saw, visibly, throughout the pandemic the importance of having a Civil Defence within the local authorities as it supported the local, ground-level response that we needed in our local authorities. The Civil Defence unit was able to get into action efficiently.

I acknowledge Chris Connolly, our local Civil Defence officer in County Louth and the incredible work he does to organise all our volunteers. Every year, from the Poc Fada in the Cooley Mountains to the visit of President Biden to assisting the fire services in very difficult major fire incidences, the volunteers are there and at hand. They were also at hand during the pandemic for the mass vaccination.

The Minister of State quite rightly outlined the main purpose of the Bill. He went through each section. All of us welcome an opportunity to modernise and make sure we have a consolidation of Bills. We must always look to improve and see how we can assist volunteers. On a local level, I am sure there are examples all across the country where there is either a lack of accommodation or accommodation that is not used. I think of the Civil Defence building that sits on the pier under King John’s Castle in Carlingford that is not being used. There is lack of resources for the local authorities to use it, whether it is to be used for Civil Defence activities or other community activities. The Department of Defence and local authorities need to come together and get an audit of the buildings that are ear-marked for Civil Defence.They need to consider the best use for these buildings.

As I was listening to Senator McDowell, I was thinking that we really need to examine the recruitment and retention of volunteers. Have we let those Civil Defence buildings and visible pieces of pride in our community fall into disrepair? People do not want to get involved in volunteerism. Local authorities are not investing in the visible pride we have in our Civil Defence and perhaps that is why there has been so great a reduction in the numbers of volunteers. Will the Minister of State convey to the Department the suggestion of an audit of buildings? Has there been an examination of why people are leaving? It cannot all be down to people ageing out. There have to be reasons for people not signing up to be volunteers. How can we as an Oireachtas, the Minister of State at the Department and the local authorities support and encourage people and ensure volunteers will know that the community has incredible pride in and respect for them? How can we translate that into increased numbers? There are so many different global threats at the moment, such as pandemics and so on. Twice in one week, hand, foot and mouth disease was mentioned in this House. In a context such as that, it is integral to have that local community response ready for action. There is a circular aspect to these crises. They are due every so often. Unfortunately, with weather changes and society changes, we need that emergency response and we need our Civil Defence to be well resourced with personnel, equipment and buildings.

I very much welcome the Bill and the acknowledgement that Civil Defence needs to be modernised. I recognise that the Department is taking this seriously. Along with the Bill, however, we need to continue implementing the White Paper to encourage people and ensure the volunteer spirit in Civil Defence, which we all value greatly, will continue.