Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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135. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will report on the role of the Defence Forces in the pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47126/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Whilst the Defence Forces are not a primary response agency for non-security related emergencies, as defined in the Framework for Major Emergency Management, they provide the fullest possible assistance to the appropriate Lead Department in the event of a natural disaster or emergency situation in its Aid to Civil Authority (ATCA) role.  In this regard, the full spectrum of Defence Forces personnel and equipment, commensurate with operational requirements, is made available for deployments, within current means and capabilities, as the need arises.

In March 2020, in anticipation of an expected increase in ATCA operations, the Defence Forces raised the Defence Force alert status to Yellow which meant the curtailment or cancellation of certain activities and non-essential training, all sports, all military competitions, travel and ceremonial taskings.  As a result the capability and capacity of the Defence Forces to respond to anticipated ATCA requests was augmented.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Joint Task Force was established to coordinate the Defence Forces contribution to the whole-of-Government COVID-19 response. It has the authority to draw together, in a joint manner, the contribution of all of the elements of the Defence Forces – Army, Air Corps, Naval Service, Reserve, etc. This was provided for in a Defence Forces Regulation signed by and under the authority of the Minister for Defence.

The priority of the Defence Forces Joint Task Force from the beginning has been to provide support to the Health Service Executive (HSE), while retaining, at all times, a contingent capacity to provide Aid to the Civil Power support.

To date, the Defence Forces personnel have provided significant supports in response to the Covid-19 crisis, with in excess of 109,000 man days and there have 22,000 instances of vehicles being deployed in an extensive range of supports from the Defence Forces.  This has provided surge support to our health services through bolstering their capacity and providing them with the additional resiliency needed to respond to the Covid 19 pandemic.

The wide range of supports that the Defence Forces have provided to the HSE, as coordinated by the Joint Task Force during the COVID-19 crisis included:

operation of the COVID-19 testing centre at the Aviva stadium; 

- support for contact tracing efforts;

- transportation by the Air Corps of COVID-19 tests to Germany;

- collection of PPE from more than 260 cargo flights and the ongoing storage and distribution of this PPE to various HSE sites;

- support for HSE testing efforts including through deployment of Naval Service vessels to Dublin, Cork and Galway;

- PPE training to workers at Cork and Waterford harbours by Naval service personnel;

- provision of tentage and marshalling support at various HSE testing sites around the country;

- transportation of patients for testing;

- a range of non clinical and administrative supports in a number of residential care home facilities; 

- assistance with the fit out of temporary facilities for the HSE (for example, the HSE facilities at City West and the University of Limerick);

- production and assembly of PPE using 3D printing facilities; and

- the use of lands at Ballymullen Barracks as a COVID-19 testing facility and contact tracing hub.

Vaccination Programme

The Defence Forces provided logistical and operational planning advice for the national vaccination programme.  

Vaccinator support has been provided by the Defence Forces across a number of vaccination centres and Long Term Residential Care settings.

Through the Joint Task Force, the Defence Forces has also supported the rollout of the vaccination programme through:

- Marshalling, administration, logistical and security supports at a number of vaccination sites

- Secure storage supports

- Transportation of vaccinators in adverse weather conditions

- Transportation of vaccines by air at the request of the National Ambulance Service.

Mandatory Quarantine Scheme (MQS)

The Department of Health is the competent authority and has overall responsibility for implementation and operation of the system of MQS in accordance with the Health (Amendment) Act 2021 and associated regulations.

It had been agreed that the Defence Forces, acting in an Aid to Civil Authority role, would provide 24/7 assistance and support to the new mandatory quarantine requirements for passengers arriving from ‘designated states’ in accordance with the Health (Amended) Act 2021 through fulfilling the role of the State Liaison Officer.  This role provided for the day to day oversight and quality assurance of the Mandatory Quarantine System. The Defence Forces role was confined to designated airports, ferry ports and at mandatory quarantine facilities.

A Service Level Agreement was put in place between the Department of Health and the Department of Defence for the provision of the Defence Forces support to the Covid 19 MQS. 

Under this SLA, the roles fulfilled by the Defence Forces under the State Liaison Official function were:

- Overarching State Liaison Official (SLO) role. The DF provided a senior officer to hold the appointment of the SLO who was the official representative of the State for the MHQS. A designated officer was also appointed to the role of Deputy SLO.

- Assistant State Liaison Official (ASLO) role at Dublin Airport.

- Assistant State Liaison Official (ASLO) role at Cork and Shannon Airports.

- Terminal Liaison Official (TLO) role at Dublin Airport. The TLO role was unique to Dublin airport as there are two terminals.

- Assistant State Liaison Official (ASLO) role at Dublin, and Cork Sea Ports.

- Assistant State Liaison Official (ASLO) role at Mandatory Quarantine Facilities (MQF)