asked the Minister for Defence if he will give the annual cost of maintaining Civil Defence in this country; whether there has been any increase in such cost since the foundation of Civil Defence; whether any full-time personnel are employed; whether any personnel have been sent abroad for training; and if he will outline the present purpose and activities of Civil Defence in the light of nuclear developments.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Civil Defence.
17.
The answer to the first part of the question is £320,000 approximately for 1968-69, including expenditure by the local authorities; the answers to the second, third and fourth parts are in the affirmative. As regards the final part, the purpose of Civil Defence is to mitigate as far as possible the effects on this country of warlike weapons, including nuclear ones, which might be used in a future war; Civil Defence activities by my Department include the overall planning and direction of Civil Defence, the provision of equipment, particularly radiac instruments, and the operation of a Civil Defence School; activities by local authorities include the recruiting and training of volunteers and the preparation and development of Civil Defence schemes for their areas.
Can the Minister give us any indication whether there has been any co-operation from civilian sources in the Civil Defence programme? I am not aware of any programme that has seen hospitals in a particular area co-operating with Civil Defence in the preparation of plans in the event of nuclear warfare. Have hospitals and medical authorities been involved with Civil Defence in the preparation of plans for such a horrible eventuality?
There is liaison between various organisations such as the Irish Red Cross and the Order of Malta who are interested in the same class of work. As far as possible we try to get officials of local authorities, such as doctors and engineers, into the Civil Defence organisation. The local authorities themselves are responsible for the administration of county hospitals and other institutions and they have specific responsibilities in the matter of Civil Defence.
The Minister will agree that if we are supposed to have a Civil Defence organisation in the country, we should keep it up to date in view of any developments it may have to meet. It would be dangerous for us to believe we had a Civil Defence organisation if it was not up to meeting what it was supposed to meet.
The Civil Defence programme and organisation are continuously under review. We have taken steps to set up Civil Defence centres in each administrative area. It would not be true to say that the organisation is not up to date or being kept up to date and that it is not getting continuous attention from the Department of Defence. We are doing everything we can within our limited resources to ensure we will have an efficient and effective Civil Defence organisation.
If in the event of a national disaster or a disaster in one area, would the Civil Defence organisation be able to provide a proper rescue service? Is there an emergency hospital service that would provide treatment for a few hundred people? Are emergency beds available in the event of such a disaster? Is it worked through Civil Defence?
I was not asked that specific question. It is nearly impossible to answer a question as to what might happen in the event of a nuclear war. It is a fact that the organisation is doing all it can to prepare for such an eventuality. In the event of a disaster one has to rely on training and experience. Take the case of the Londoners during the Battle of Britain. It took them some time to learn to cope with the situation. I am not going to forecast how our Civil Defence organisation could cope with nuclear war conditions.
The Minister will agree there should be at least an annual review of the activities of Civil Defence to see that it is keeping abreast.
Further arising from the Minister's reply——
We cannot have speeches on this. I would ask Deputy O'Connell to resume his seat.