The deployed Civil Defence Units have included Kerry, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Carlow, Kilkenny, Offaly, Laois, Kildare, Galway, Wexford, Wicklow, Donegal and Cavan. Dublin has also been deployed to provide assistance in Limerick, while other units are standby if needed.
Civil Defence Units have been deployed to assist with a wide range of activities, including transport of HSE patients, facilitating palliative care home visits, welfare visits and transport of key HSE staff. The units have also provided assistance to business and community groups.
The range and volume of requests has been very significant, with hundreds of taskings completed over the past five days, and hundreds of critical care staff and patients transported. Such is the volume of requests received, that it has not been possible to track the total number of people assisted with general welfare visits and other assistance.
In addition to the full-time Civil Defence Officers and Assistant Civil Defence Officers, hundreds of volunteers have responded by working long hours over consecutive days using their training and experience to assist those impacted and often cut-off from services. This work has been carried out in parallel with other critical Civil Defence duties, including missing person searches.
The actions of Civil Defence Officers and Volunteers throughout the country has contributed significantly to the wellbeing of many people for whom the weather conditions present very challenging circumstances, especially some very vulnerable people in communities.
