Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 February 2015
25. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Defence as chair of the Government task force on emergency planning, if he will provide an update of the work carried out under the Government's Be Winter-Ready 2014-2015 campaign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6798/15]
View answerI jointly launched the “Be Winter Ready” Government Information Campaign for 2014/2015 on 13 November 2014 with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. A cross-Departmental working group of the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning has met on a regular basis during 2014 to oversee the development of the 2014/15 ‘Be Winter Ready’ campaign by the Office of Emergency Planning (OEP). The role of the OEP is to ensure that there is a “whole of Government” approach to emergency planning while each lead Department/Agency retains responsibility for their specific winter preparedness.
The meetings reviewed aspects of the previous ‘Be Winter Ready’ campaign in 2013/2014 and agreed new initiatives to be included in this year’s campaign. This includes building on the national and local radio advertisement and social media campaigns initiated in 2013 as well as continuing the display of public information notices at peak traffic times across all the National Roads Authority motorway signs.
A redesign of the ‘Be Winter Ready’ booklet was undertaken by OEP staff making it more ‘user friendly’. The office distributed over 9,000 copies of the booklet to libraries, community groups, individuals etc. throughout the country. It is also available for download at www.winterready.ie . Posters were designed and produced in different sizes for distribution to post offices, transport groups, libraries, community groups, etc. All Departments/Agencies put links to www.winterready.ie on their website and informed all bodies under their aegis of the campaign.
OEP staff attended the National Ploughing Championship in September 2014 and designed, produced and distributed a leaflet for farm families, which was launched at this event.
While these innovative steps helped to further expand the public awareness of this annual information campaign, the OEP would welcome any innovative suggestions for further promoting this annual campaign for the next winter season in 2015/2016.
