Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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418. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the stock of PPE held in reserve by his Department in anticipation of a second wave of Covid-19 or another health emergency requiring all Defence Forces and Civil Defence personnel to be issued with same on a 24-7 basis. [19171/20]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department has worked closely with the Office of Government Procurement in relation to the acquisition of PPE and continues to do so.

I can confirm that a range of PPE is held on reserve by both the Defence Forces and Civil Defence, in the event that they are required to respond to Aid to the Civil Authority requests, including health emergency events in the future.  The stock in reserve includes face masks, disposable gloves, face shields, gowns, disposable overshoes, safety goggles/glasses and hand sanitizer.  

In the case of the Defence Forces, the PPE stocks are held in reserve for current Aid to the Civil Authority operations, to facilitate the Defence Forces operating and training in a safe manner, given the presence of COVID-19, to equip units and individuals personnel deploying on Peace Support Operations and to maintain a general reserve.

Civil Defence operates on a partnership basis between the Department of Defence and the Local Authorities. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 the stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) available for Civil Defence Units has increased.  A range of PPE has been provided to the 29 Civil Defence Units around the country to enable Civil Defence to respond to the health emergency.  The Department has also retained a stock of PPE in the central Civil Defence stores in Roscrea, in anticipation of future health related events or emergencies.   The stocks provided by my Department are in addition to the provision of PPE by the Local Authorities.