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Wed 05 May 2004Smith denies there is a crisis in the Civil DefenceThe Minister for Defence, Mr Smith told the Dáil it was "patent nonsense" to suggest that there was a developing crisis in the Civil Defence Board.Fine Gael's defence spokesman, Mr Dinny McGinley demanded that the Minister clarify his role in the dispute with the chairman of the Civil Defence Board, Dr Michael Ryan, whom the Minister was seeking to remove "from his position as chairman of the board and as a member", in a row over decentralisation.