David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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37. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his plans for the further development of the Civil Defence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41891/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The current strategy for the development of Civil Defence is laid out in the Towards 2030 10-year strategy which was published in 2020. This document re-confirms the central strategic objective for Civil Defence - to support the Principal Response Agencies in a variety of emergency and non-emergency situations. Civil Defence will focus on five core services; emergency response, search and rescue, medical response, community assistance and radiation monitoring.

My Department's focus is on working with local authorities to ensure Civil Defence units across the State can deliver these core services. The capacity of Civil Defence Units across the State is being enhanced through new recruitment, liaising with Local Authorities to ensure that they fulfil their obligation to provide appropriate accommodation for their Civil Defence Unit, using Dormant Account Funds to modernise the Civil Defence fleet (vehicles, boats and equipment), and introducing new capability through, for example, drones, incident response & all-terrain vehicles. In addition, almost all Units now have an Assistant Civil Defence Officer to provide the support needed to effectively and efficiently oversee the unit.

I was delighted to secure additional funding for the Civil Defence, in the recent Budget 2025 negotiations, to further these goals, to provide for enhanced risk management and safety processes, and to continue the roll-out of modern work wear uniforms for all of our volunteers, which commenced this year.