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Defence Forces Operations

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 December 2015

Thursday, 17 December 2015

Questions (304)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl

Question:

304. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Defence the number of suspect devices the Army disposal unit dealt with, by county, in 2015 to date, in tabular form. [45821/15]

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Written answers

The Department of Justice and Equality and An Garda Síochána have primary responsibility for the internal security of the State. Among the roles assigned to the Defence Forces in the White Paper on Defence is the provision of Aid to the Civil Power (ATCP) which, in practice, means to assist An Garda Síochána when requested to do so.

The Defence Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams respond when a request for assistance is made by An Garda Síochána in dealing with a suspect device. Following post operation analysis these callouts are then categorised and this would include viable devices, hoaxes, false alarms, post-blast analysis and the removal of unstable chemicals in laboratories.

The numbers of EOD call outs and the numbers of viable devices dealt with up to 17 December 2015, by county, are set out in the following table.

County

Total

Viable Devices

Cavan

2

2

Clare

1

0

Cork

12

3

Donegal

3

1

Dublin

41

13

Galway

7

0

Kerry

1

0

Kildare

5

2

Kilkenny

1

0

Laois

1

0

Leitrim

3

4

Limerick

10

5

Longford

4

2

Louth

12

2

Mayo

1

0

Meath

3

0

Monaghan

3

0

Offaly

1

1

Sligo

2

1

Tipperary

3

0

Waterford

4

0

Westmeath

2

1

Wexford

6

1

Wicklow

8

1

Total

136

39

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