Under a Government decision of 28 March 1985 the responsibility for peacetime emergency planning, including any necessary co-ordination with other Departments, rests with the individual Departments for their own areas of responsibility.
Under a further Government decision taken on 3 September 1986 an interdepartmental committee chaired by the Department of the Environment and comprising also representatives of the Departments of Health, Defence and Justice were established to monitor and advise on (a) the preparation and testing of emergency plans by local authorities, health boards and the Garda, and (b) the co-ordination arrangements at national level to facilitate the response of agencies to major emergencies.
The committee are an advisory, not an operational, body. As the Deputy will therefore appreciate, responsibility for peacetime emergency planning, including any necessary co-ordination with other Departments, has for some time now rested with individual Departments in relation to their own areas of responsibility, and with the bodies responsible for emergency services under the aegis of those Departments. Those arrangements are working satisfactorily to my best knowledge.