Vol. 470 No. 1
306 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Marine the number of persons on the Marine Emergency Advisory Group which assists the Irish Marine Emergency Service; whether such persons include permanent representatives of the Department of the Environment and the National Parks and Wildlife Service; and the role of each member of the group. [18250/96]
A recommendation of the Report of Review Group on Air-Sea Rescue Services which was published in 1990 was that a Marine Emergency Advisory Group — MEAG — be set up by the Minister responsible for maritime matters. As a result of the recommendation the MEAG was established by Government decision in 1991. The group is made up of high-level officers of the maritime and landbased emergency services. It is chaired by the Director of the Irish Marine Emergency Service — IMES — under the aegis of my Department and includes senior officers from the Air Corps, the Naval Service, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the Garda Síochána, the Irish Aviation Authority, the Marine Survey Office, the Department of Finance, the Department of Health and the Fire Service of the Department of the Environment.
The role of the MEAG is as follows: to assemble as a task force at the IMES headquarters during major emergencies to advise the Director of IMES and or the Minister on the appropriate response; to review and amend any plans in existence for dealing with marine emergencies in territorial waters and the Irish search and rescue region and to approve new contingency plans, paying particular attention to the interface between land and marine emergency plans; to consider the implications of any intended changes in equipment, deployment or organisation in any relevant agency in advance of such changes and to respond appropriately and to exercise the authority to commit the resources of their own agencies to emergency response.
In co-ordinating marine emergency response operations, the Irish Marine Emergency Service liaises closely with a large number of statutory and non-statutory agencies including, as appropriate, the local authorities and the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. It has not been considered necessary for this service to be permanently represented on the Marine Emergency Advisory Group. However, I will review whether liaison arrangements with this service can be improved, including its possible permanent representation on the MEAG.
