John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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589. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will provide a breakdown the number of active members of the Civil Defence in each of the 28 Civil Defence units across the State in each of the years 2013 to 2022 and as of March 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12639/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The number of active volunteers in each Civil Defence Unit on those dates is as follows.

Civil Defence volunteers are recruited, trained and managed by the local Civil Defence Officer who is a full-time employee of the local authority. It is for each Unit to determine how many volunteers are required to deliver an effective Civil Defence service in their County. In 2020 as part of the 3 year planning cycle in Civil Defence each local authority confirmed the volunteer numbers required to deliver core services. The total figure was 2,857. Local authorities are currently submitting their Civil Defence plans for the period 2023 to 2025 and again they have been asked to identify the number of volunteers required in their Civil Defence Unit.

It should be noted that Covid-19 significantly restricted the ability of local authorities to recruit volunteers in the period 2020 to 2022. I am advised that a number of Units are now actively recruiting new volunteers.