Exercises are an important aspect of training. Call-outs don't happen too often, so exercises provide the main opportunity for putting training into practice. There are several types of exercise:

- Inter-service exercises. These involve various combinations of the emergency services operating together, to test out county or area emergency plans. Happen once or twice annually.

- Civil Defence exercises. Involve Civil Defence units from different counties, most prominently the National Exercises, which occur annually in different locations around the country.

- Local exercises. Take place using local Civil Defence resources. Can vary from days to minutes in duration, with 5 to 100 personnel taking place. Take place regularly.

Details of some exercises conducted by Laois Civil Defence are given in this section.