Vol. 406 No. 5
16 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Defence if he will outline the resources being made available to the Civil Defence units in each local authority area; and if he has satisfied himself that they are fully equipped to deal with any emergency in the event of aircraft carrying nuclear weapons crashing on Irish soil.
Civil Defence comprises five basic disciplines, namely the warden service, the rescue service, the casualty service, the welfare service and the auxiliary fire service.
The warden service, which includes a specially trained cadre of scientific advisers, are equipped with radiation measuring equipment to measure levels of radiation in the atmosphere and have access to a comprehensive communications network with telephone, radio and fax equipment to convey their findings to county and national centres. Apart from this, volunteers from this service would be available to assist the Garda in the regulation of traffic and crowd control.
The rescue service are trained and equipped specifically for the location and removal of persons from collapsed buildings and crash sites generally, including crashed aircraft. Apart from standard rescue equipment, they also have custom made trailers containing power cutting equipment and accident-site illumination sets. The rescue service work in close co-operation with the casualty service which have first-aid training and equipment, including ambulances. The welfare service are trained and equipped to feed victims and those involved in rescue or relief work on site and to help those under stress. The auxiliary fire service are trained and equipped to support the regular fire services as required and to contribute to all rescue efforts.
The transport fleet available to Civil Defence countrywide is composed of minibuses, four-wheeled drive jeep-type vehicles and a small number of single deck buses. A total of 10,000-12,000 effective volunteers are available throughout the country for general emergency purposes.
An emergency of the type mentioned in the question would result in the Major Peacetime Nuclear Accident Plan being brought into effect by the Department of Energy. The Civil Defence organisation has specific roles within this plan for which they have been trained and equipped. Those roles relate primarily to radiation monitoring, sampling of soil, water and vegetation, and in the implementation of control measures. Many other agencies would, of course, also have major involvements in such an emergency.
Perhaps I should have made my question more specific. I was trying to find out the total financial resources made available to the Civil Defence organisation nationwide. If the Minister has that information I would be grateful to receive it.
I do not have the information with me, but so far as I can recall it is in the region of £1.7 million.
