Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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56. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if the reduction of Army field engineer companies from three to two arising from the 2012 Defence Forces reorganisation has decreased the capacity of the Defence Forces to aid the civil authorities in areas such as forest and gorse fires, maintenance of essential national services and national disasters in times of emergency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23260/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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In 2012, a major re-organisation of the Defence Forces took place which resulted in the consolidation of under-strength units into a smaller number of full strength units, a reduction in the number of headquarters and the associated re-deployment of personnel from administrative and support functions to operational units.

As a result of the re-organisation, the operational capacity of the Defence Forces has been optimised to the greatest extent possible, within the available resource envelope. Also of significance however, is the fact that the re-organisation has led to an improvement in the deployability and sustainability of the Defence Forces, both at home and overseas, and has allowed it to continue to fulfil all roles assigned in the White Paper on Defence.

One of the roles assigned is to provide Aid to the Civil Authority (ATCA) supports to lead agencies responsible for dealing with emergencies. Although the Defence Forces are not a Principal Response Agency, as defined in the Framework for Major Emergency Management, the Defence Forces have provided very significant assistance to the emergency services fighting gorse and forest fires in Counties Sligo and Galway in recent weeks. In this regard, an Air Corps AW139 helicopter dropped approximately 197,000 litres of water onto the fires whilst an EC-135 helicopter facilitated command and control of the fire fighting operation. In addition to the Air Corps assistance, 49 army personnel were deployed to assist with the fire fighting effort in Oughterard, Co. Galway.

I am satisfied that the Defence Forces made a very significant contribution in support of the emergency services and that the 2012 re-organisation has not diminished the response capabilities of the Defence Forces.