Galway Civil Defence has been allocated a new emergency vehicle to help it in its mission to support local gardaí, the HSE, and councils.
The Department of Defence announced this week that 32 new four wheel drive emergency vehicles are being given to Civil Defence units around the country.
This follows from the Department of Defence applying for and being awarded €1 million in funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund in 2019.
The 32 vehicles are Ford Ranger crewcabs and are being supplied through an Office of Government Procurement contract.
“These new vehicles will be an additional resource for all types of Civil Defence operations such as severe weather events and missing person searches,” Minister Paul Kehoe said.
The Minister added that Civil Defence’s current fleet of vehicles including four wheel drives, vans, minibuses and ambulances have been “significantly utilised” since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
Since March 17, over 800 volunteers for the Civil Defence have provided more than 21,000 hours of their time.
The type of taskings Civil Defence volunteers have undertaken include:
- transporting patients to hospitals, nursing homes and testing centres
- collection of medications and medical equipment and delivering to patients homes
- providing assistance to vulnerable persons within communities by delivering food and medications
- supporting young people with special requirements in their education by delivering homework packs
- transporting test samples for the HSE to Laboratories
