An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir November 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 12 | By CPl lEE CoylE PhotoS ARMn ADAM MuRPhy T he Corps of Engineers (CoE) has many roles within the DF; these include mobility, counter-mobility, survivability and general engineering. But what is less known about the CoE is they also provide support to the civil power and civil authorities when requested. With the latter in mind, the CoE, Engineer Spe- cialist Search and Clearance (ESSC) Autumn exercise 2017 ESSCEX 19 was conducted in the Kilkenny area from the 9th – 13th october. the exercise was designed to provide ESSC teams from each forma- tion an opportunity to deploy in a variety of realistic situations. We met up with Lt Diarmuid O'Ceidigh from Eng Gp, DFTC, who gave us a brief outline of the exercise; the exercise was bro- ken down into three different scenarios, each with its own chal- lenges to keep the teams busy. The scenarios have taken into account recent and past situations that the DF have dealt with, and may have to deal with in the future at home or overseas. sCenarios 'a' anD 'B': The recent vote on Article 50 by the British Government which most of us have come to know, as BREXIT. This was the main theme of these scenarios. With the UK's imminent departure from the EU, it is envisaged that there will be an increasing unrest throughout the UK. Civil discord has been particularly intense in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, where pro-EU populations have been repeatedly demonstrating and protesting at the West- minster led EU exit process. Over the last two months paramilitary groups have seen this as an opportunity and have intensified their activities. With BREXIT leading to a border crisis with Northern Ireland, dissident loyalist paramilitaries have organised rioting and carried out attacks on state officials, EU institutions and led initiatives in seeking an all-island border solution. Also trying to capitalise on the political crisis, republican paramilitaries have started to increase their campaign by increasing attacks on Northern Ireland Security Forces. This results in the Irish Government hosting an all-party multinational summit at Kilkenny Castle to discuss the on- going crisis and seek solutions to the BREXIT border crisis. The meeting includes high profile parties from the EU, includ- ing a British delegation led by the UK Foreign Secretary, an Irish delegation as well as other parties from Northern Ire- land and various state officials and global business leaders. An Garda Síochána deployed significant resources with DF support to the Kilkenny area. With the Gardai providing a K9 search and location security for the summit venue itself, it has requested the COE's ESSC support to secure key installations that will be used during the summit. These included an Agricul- tural Expo in the Hub and Nowlan Park for a Hurling match. We joined the first ESSC team at Nowlan Park; in charge of carrying out the search of the arena was Lt Liam Grace, who

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