Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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385. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the way in which the Civil Defence made a successful application under dormant accounts for €1 million for vehicles in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25623/20]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In June 2019 the Department for Rural and Community Development sought proposals from all Government Departments identifying any projects they wished to put forward for consideration for inclusion in the Dormant Accounts Action Plan for 2020. My Department submitted a proposal seeking funding to procure new vehicles in 2020 to upgrade the Civil Defence fleet. The ongoing provision of appropriate vehicles is essential in enabling an efficient Civil Defence response to national, regional and local emergency and non-emergency events, as they arise. While such events can affect the general public at any time, their impact can be more severe on the socially and economically disadvantaged, especially the vulnerable and isolated.

In November, 2019 my Department was allocated €1 million in Dormant Accounts Funding. It was one of 43 different measures totalling €45.5 million in the 2020 Dormant Accounts Action Plan with funding from €50,000 to over €5 million being awarded to various organisations.