Gallery: Local Civil Defence members honoured at Awards night

The Kilkenny Civil Defence held an award ceremony for its hard working volunteers at County Hall.

The vice-chairman of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr Andrew McGuinness presented over 100 training certificates to 26 volunteers in areas such as swift water rescue, national power boating and missing persons search.

Two long service medals were handed out to Paraic Kelly and Louise Holland for 10 years of service to the organisation.
The Civil Defence is a voluntary service that supports the frontline emergency services.

They are trained in many areas including Casualty Response, Search and Rescue, Severe weather response, Flooding, Communications and Radiation monitoring.

This year the Kilkenny Civil Defence completed over 361 hours of training as a group and provided cover for 34 events in the community throughout the city and county.

These community events include field days, festivals and sporting events where the volunteers provided first aid and safety boat cover.

They were also involved in searches for missing persons both on the rivers and land. This included a search for a missing woman and her child last week which ended in a very positive result thanks to the dedication of the volunteers.

Last month the Kilkenny Civil Defence received a new Ford Ranger from the Department of Defence through the Dormant Accounts Fund increasing their response capabilities.

Speaking on behalf of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr McGuinness praised the work done by the Civil defence and stressed their importance to the community.

“It is a privilege to present the awards to the Civil Defence because this fantastic group of volunteers support our front line emergency services and sacrifice their own personal time to do so,” the Fianna Fáil public representative said.

“Sometimes we take for granted what they do and we kind of expect them to be at various social and sporting events but is a big commitment and of course it is a serious job and that is why the training these volunteers do is so important and I commend them for it,” he said.

“That rigorous training they put themselves through to be equipped to tackle whatever emergency they face is not for the feint hearted.

“They also support hundreds of community events throughout the year all over the city and county and in many cases, these events could not happen without the support of the Civil Defence.

“Well done to Katherine Peacock and all of the volunteers in the Civil Defence who have made such a positive difference in Kilkenny.

“They deserve great recognition for their work and the awards presentation was a small token of gratitude for their service. Volunteerism at its best.

“On behalf of the people of Kilkenny, I would like to say thank you to these people who give so much to make life better for all of us,” he finished.