asked the Minister for Defence the capacity and standard of the communications equipment in each County Civil Defence HQ; the proposals which exist for updating to provide quicker and more efficient warning procedures in the event of nuclear attack; and if he is in a position to confirm that the standard of effectiveness of the present equipment is the same as that in British warning centres.
Written Answers. - CD Communications Equipment.
370.
The communications and warning arrangements for Civil Defence purposes consist of a combination of the use of the RTE broadcasting network, the telephone system (including switched private Civil Defence lines) and the dissemination of warning at local level by members of the Garda Síochána and designated Civil Defence personnel. The Deputy will appreciate that it would be inappropriate for me to promulgate the details of arrangements of this kind. However, it can be said that the equipment is of the normal operating standard and the effectiveness of the arrangements — excluding an actual broadcast of warnings over the air and the dissimination of warnings to the public other than in selected areas — has been tested annually in recent years as part of the Civil Defence national fallout exercises. In general the communications arrangements have operated very satisfactorily but, of course, there is room for improvement.
Development of Civil Defence measures, including communications, is an on-going process. In the light of the outcome of the most recent fallout exercise which was held last November the Department are at present re-examining the existing arrangements and it is envisaged that, when that re-examination has been completed, the communications and warning network will be further developed and the range of equipment will be expanded.
As the expected level of attack and civil defence arrangements differ from country to country it is difficult to achieve any valuable comparison of the kind sought.