Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 January 2010
880 Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will instruct local authorities to upgrade their emergency plans in view of the recent adverse weather; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1483/10]
View answerAll local authority major emergency plans are based on A Framework for Major Emergency Management and became operative on 30 September 2008. The Framework and the plans detail a co-ordination structure that enables the Principal Response Agencies (Local Authorities, An Garda Síochána and the HSE) to work together and to integrate with other services including the Defence Forces and voluntary organisations. These co-ordination structures can be used whether a major emergency is declared or not. Each authority undertook an appraisal of its preparedness in the period up to 31 December 2008 to ensure that the key preparedness steps of the Framework have been implemented. The appraisals were reviewed by the Department and the level of preparedness among the authorities as set out in the Framework was confirmed. A review of the operation during the recent flooding and severe weather events will be undertaken with a view to assessing the performance of the inter-agency arrangements and to ascertain if any revision of the major emergency plans is necessary.
