Dinner attended by Minister Paul Kehoe, TD., Chathaoirleach, Cllr. Michael Sheehan, Director of Services, Mr. John Carley, Mr. David Buckley , PrincipalOfficer, Civil Defence College, Superintendent James Doyle, Mr.  Anthony Byrne, National Ambulance Service, Wexford RNLI, Commdt. David O’Grady, Wexford Order of Malta, Civil Defence Volunteers and Invited guests.

Long service medals were presented to

40 Year Service Medals

1. Mr. Liam Healy, Wexford Unit.     
2. Mr. Peter Earle, Ballygarrett Unit.
3. Mr. Donal Wafer, Ballygarrett Unit.

30 Year Service Medals

1. Mr. Noel Stacey, Wexford Unit

20 Year Service Medals

1. Anne Browne, Wexford Unit,

10 Year Service Medals

1. Mr. Conor Barry, Wexford Unit,
2. Walter Kent, New Ross Unit,

Certificate of Commendation presented

On the 9^th of October, while returning home from training, volunteers came across a very distressed person attempting to jump from Wexford bridge.  The volunteers engaged with that person and managed to bring the individual to safety and summon the emergency services. The volunteers remained with the individual until the emergency services arrived and took him into care.

Over 60 volunteers from around the county received Certificates for

First Aid, Radio Communications, Swift Water Training,  Welfare Training and Severe Weather Offroad Driving,

Promotions :

Mr Matt Crispin, FAR Instructor, I would like to ask Mr,.David Buckley to present his Second Officer Bars.

Additional Funding

During the year we have worked on a number of projects with the Civil Defence College who provided additional funding to complete the purchase of

1 x Ford Ranger

3 x Lifepac CR2, New Ross, Gory and Wexford

2 x Bay Vehicle Garage in Gorey

Total additional Funding to Wexford Civil Defence was €57,000.  I would like to thank Minister Kehoe for the allocation of the New Ford Ranger to Wexford, and the announcement of a further €1m into additional funding for Civil Defence.  I would also like to thank the Principal Officer, Mr David Buckley, for the additional funding.I look forward to working on other projects with the College into the future.

Courses – Events

2019  was an extremely busy year for Wexford Civil Defence.  We provided 65 local training courses to include:

CFR, Community, Employee and Volunteer courses

Driving Assessments, MH & PH, Water Responder and 1 x EMT Upskilling Course

We had a number of Instructors back to the Civil Defence College during the year for re-certification in:

1. EFR, CFR and FAR Instructor
2. Clinical Audit

During 2019 we had 35 applications for membership; we now have 20 new recruits in training with the Enniscorthy unit,5 in the New Ross and Wexford units. I would like to welcome the new recruits into Civil Defence and wish them well with their training.

2020 we will focus on re-establishing a unit in the Ballygarret area.  We will work with the existing long-serving volunteers to recruit into the unit.

Mr John Carley, Director of Services will retire in December 2019; John became Director with responsibility for Civil Defence in July 2014. John has always supported Wexford Civil Defence with the improvements in the service in Wexford. I have worked closely with John on a number of projects since 2016 to include

Annual Budget increase,

He supported the doubling of the capital allocation for a New HQ,

Provision of garaging for vehicles in Enniscorthy, where we now have two vehicles based.

Provision of new garage facilities in Gorey, two further vehicles will be based in Gorey.

John also established a project to look at the provision of a new Headquarters for Wexford.  He provided the resources to produce plans for a new building and pricing.  We have looked at several options from a new build to purchase a building.  Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of his control, we could not proceed this time.  However, the project remains alive. I would ask all involved to keep John’s project moving and provide a much needed permanent home for Wexford Civil Defence.