269. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Defence to provide a breakdown of the numbers of active Civil Defence personnel in each of the 28 Civil Defence units for each year for the past five years, in tabular form; the recruitment target and baseline strength for Civil Defence for 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62551/26]

The table below sets out the number of volunteers per the legacy Volunteer Register system (2022-2023) and the new Volunteer and Equipment Management System (VEMS) (2024-2026) which was deployed in July 2023. It is important to note that volunteer numbers on the legacy system represent those numbers registered with Civil Defence. The VEMS numbers represent a more accurate reflection of the numbers that are active and have current minimum training standards.

The target for the current year is to move towards an active cohort of 2,500, with a longer-term target of 3,500. This is a national target and units will have varying capacity to increase numbers depending on the scope of the Civil Defence accommodation footprint within their Local Authority.

There is a constant focus on continuing recruitment, in a very challenging volunteering environment. In 2025 my Department ran a radio and social media recruitment campaign and this will be followed up with bus shelter advertising campaign.