Brian Stanley warns of shrinking local authority outdoor workforce

Thanks. Just when I was speaking about the importance of local outdoor staff with local authorities out in the municipal district areas, I want to just revert back to that for a minute because, you know, I know it's not an area that you're constrained, I understand that, but at the same time that people at your level need to be aware that there's a shortage there. There's a severe shortage. And one of the strange things that's happened over the last 30 years is that the number of actual local authority staff has ballooned. I think that would be the experience in most county offices. There's an increase in the number of actual staff in the local authorities. However, at the same time as we have seen this, we've seen a massive decrease in the amount of what I would term loosely outdoor staff. And I just want to flag that up here because we have little enough opportunity to raise this. I will be raising it in other forums as well and have brought it up in the past. So I just don't want to let this morning pass without it because just people who are involved with national planning for emergencies at national level need to be aware of that. And just in terms of the radiation monitoring, that was the one that I was totally okay with. And just what that involves, and sorry, I had to pop up for a minute because I was near having an oral question in the door, but the question time finished just before I got to my question, which is the way it works sometimes. But in terms of training, in terms of nuclear, because I know when I was a little bit younger, I was a cadet in the Order of Malta, Fado, Fado. And it's one of the things we were trained in was what to do in the case of a nuclear fallout and how to, you know, what to do in your local community and how to protect people and even protect livestock, remember it, what to do in that situation. Just wondering, is that her type of training available? And just a little bit of information. I'm sorry if I missed some of it while it was out in terms of the radiation monitoring and what that involves. I can speak to the radiation monitoring piece, but we might pass Keelan on the wider response. Thanks, Deputy and Sep. Just, yeah, there is a national plan for nuclear and radiological exposures. That's a plan that's held by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment as lead government department for that, which is a national plan which highlights the trigger levels for the activation of the National Emergency Coordination Group. And it's primarily focused on nuclear incidents abroad impacting on the island of Ireland. And in that there are those key agencies, which would be the Department of Health, the HSC, Food Safety Authority, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, are all key components in that plan for public safety advice in times of crisis involving nuclear incidents abroad. I don't recall, Deputy, that it focuses on training specifically. And it is very much focused on the national level coordination, the national structures that we would stand up, and the advice and guidance that will be provided by the Environmental Protection Agency to the public. And could you ask, Mr. Carter, just in terms of training, because obviously certain things have to happen if there was a nuclear fallout. You know, so that that requires people. Does the Civil Defence have a role in that? And, you know, it's only involvement in terms of training or anything else for our Civil Defence members in that. Because, let's face it, you know, I suppose some of us lived through the tail end of the Cold War, and you wouldn't call it the Cold War now, it's more of an Ottawa now, isn't it? You know? And anything can happen, like, and I'm just wondering, you know, what's the role of the Civil Defence, if any, in this? It's more of an Ottawa now, isn't it? You know? And anything can happen, like, and I'm just wondering, you know, what's the role of the Civil Defence, if any, in this? So the role of the Civil Defence is not in that space, it is in the constant ongoing monitoring and making sure that they're able to respond in terms of that sampling, etc. And it would be in the post-phase in terms of monitoring and sampling again. They don't have any role in the centre point in the actual response to that. It is something that, it will be covered as part of the response to nuclear, and it is a point that we will bring back to that table the actual response on the ground and who is responding. That will be in the plan, will it? That will have to be considered within that plan, yeah. That's the point to inquire about. Thanks, Carla. Thank you.