Fórsa has made a significant breakthrough in its longstanding claim to ensure there is an assistant civil defence officer in every local authority.

Earlier this week, local authority employers represented by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) said they would tell chief executives that every county must have an assistant civil defence office.

Fórsa spokesperson for civil defence officers, Brian Sweeney, thanked the union for its steadfast support of the claim and welcomed this breakthrough.

“Civil defence officers have stretched themselves throughout this pandemic, providing a much-needed community response programme for vulnerable members of society. Never has there been a greater need for assistant civil defence officers," he said.

Until now, most local authorities have had no assistant civil defence officer. This has placed an unreasonable burden on civil defence officers, who operate on a voluntary capacity, with regards to out of hours working and annual leave.

Civil defence officers were instrumental in coordinating the local authority response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including supports to vulnerable members of the public. However, senior volunteers were sometimes required to take on duties that were only appropriate to employees, because of a lack of resources.

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