Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Civil Defence is a fantastic voluntary organisation with a proud history of more than 70 years. It plays a vital role in protecting and safeguarding the lives of people throughout Ireland. It is responsible for providing emergency response and relief services during times of crisis such as floods, storms, fires, landslides and other disasters. It also provides a range of other services such as first aid, search and rescue, emergency transport, evacuation and public education, as well as training and education to its members, which is essential to ensuring the safety of the public. It is important to acknowledge the huge role Civil Defence has played recently, not least during the pandemic and the recent arrival of Ukrainian people, given it has been actively involved in supporting Ukrainians seeking protection in Ireland, including by setting up temporary rest centres and ongoing logistics.

The Bill specifies that the Minister may give “directions to local authorities in relation to the performance of their functions under, or for the purposes of, this Act as the Minister considers appropriate”. In respect of Civil Defence plans, which the Minister of State mentioned in regard to section 8, they must specify the key objectives having regard to any direction of the Minister under the Act. Does the Minister of State have any indication of which areas the Minister may seek to focus on regarding Civil Defence plans? One important area in which Civil Defence has been involved is natural disasters and, with the inevitable increase in flooding and adverse weather events caused by climate change, it is important we do our best to ensure we are protected and that Civil Defence is deployed most effectively.

The Bill will continue the practice whereby the Government may not provide more than 70% of funding in a year for local Civil Defence costs, with local authorities providing the other 30%. What is the rationale for this division? Would the Department exceed the 70% if it were deemed the local authority could not adequately fund its protections?

Section 10 includes provisions in regard to the making by the Minister for Defence of regulations concerning codes of practice for Civil Defence volunteers. What process and sanctions are envisaged for breaches of the code of practice? It has a fantastic reputation but many other institutions highlighted that all is not well. I emphasise I am not saying this about Civil Defence, but prevention is the best form of cure and it instils confidence. I am interested in section 10, regarding the code of practice, in the context of the regulations the Minister may prescribe in this area and the standards of conduct and integrity to be maintained, which should be uppermost in our minds to ensure we protect that institution and its traditions and reputation.

Many people want to help and make our country a better place and want to serve this country, but may not necessarily want to join the Defence Forces, Óglaigh na hÉireann. Some of these people enter Civil Defence. We should be thinking bigger when it comes to serving our country. A lot of the work of Civil Defence is focused on reacting to emergencies, which it does excellently, but perhaps it is time for us to think about an organisation that is focused on preventing emergencies too. In this spirit, the idea of a civilian climate corps is one we should explore in Ireland, and I hope the Minister of State will give this some consideration. Some have been established in other parts of the world, including the United States, where President Biden has, as part of his American jobs plan, called for a new large-scale climate corps to combat the 21st-century problem of climate change. This is to be modelled on the original civilian conservation corps set up by Franklin Roosevelt as part of his New Deal. In an Irish context, this could help us to achieve our climate goals, with people helping out in areas where we need more workers, such as tree-planting, building trails, rewetting bogs and learning skills for the retrofitting of homes.

In Kildare, we have a proud tradition of Civil Defence officers and volunteers. I am sure Senator Wall, who is in the Chamber, will comment on this because he has a genuine concern in this area as well. Their professionalism in Kildare and their dedication at first hand was widely recognised this year when a team from Kildare was announced overall winners of the trauma national rescue challenge, and barely a week goes by without it contributing in important ways to the social fabric of the life of our local communities. In the past few weeks alone, it has provided medical cover to vintage car shows in Johnstownbridge, charity events such as Bluebells and Busters in Killinthomas Wood and the Irish boat event in Senator Wall's area, Athy. Only last weekend, for the second running of the annual Bealtaine festival in Naas with record crowds, there was an invaluable input from Civil Defence and we thank it for that.

While I welcome the introduction of the Bill and the Green Party group fully supports it because it will provide a modern and fit-for-purpose legislative framework for the organisation, I wonder whether we are missing an opportunity to provide a firm basis for allowing members to train and exercise abroad and also, if necessary, to deploy and assist others in times of crisis around the world.Following the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Ireland was one of an extremely small number of member states of the EU that did not officially offer either a medical response or a search team on the ground. As I said, the Civil Defence touches every county in this country and every community owes it a debt of gratitude. It richly deserves our continued support in the most tangible, effective way possible, including forward planning for its next 70 years.