Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 January 2010
9 Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether the recent cold snap was a severe weather emergency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2485/10]
Amharc ar fhreagra10 Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason the emergency planning committee under the direction of his Department did not convene sooner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2487/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 10 together.
In relation to the recent sustained period of severe weather, the critical consideration was the response of the relevant statutory agencies tasked with addressing emerging events. The response arrangements of the statutory and voluntary agencies in dealing with the developing situation were substantially tested. Some areas of the country experienced more severe problems than others and required more co-ordinated responses by the various agencies. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the staff of local authorities and other statutory agencies and to members of voluntary bodies for their dedication and contribution to ensuring that services were maintained as far as possible.
Up to the Christmas period, local authorities acted to ensure that the national road network remained open for purposes of public transport and access for the private sector for the delivery and receipt of goods and services. My Department monitored the emerging position and, in light of a deteriorating trend, I convened the national emergency response co-ordination committee. There was no unnecessary delay in this regard. The committee facilitated a whole of Government approach and provided a forum for different Departments and agencies to exchange information, agree priorities and ensure that any matter which required a national response was dealt with expeditiously. This complemented but did not replace the continued co-ordination and inter-agency arrangements at local level.
The response of the local authorities and the other principal response agencies, with the support of the Defence Forces and other statutory and voluntary agencies was active and sustained. At all times, the co-ordination and inter-agency arrangements set out in the framework for major emergency management were implemented at local and regional level by the principal response agencies working together with other statutory and voluntary bodies.
I concur with the Minister in his praise of those who worked very hard. I would liken them to troops in the field who fought bravely to maintain the roads and services. Is there something about the Minister's constituency and being leader of the minor party in a Government with Fianna Fáil that leads the general to abandon his troops in the middle of battle? That happened with the leader of the Progressive Democrats who upped and left in the middle of a war. The Minister's invisibility during the course of this distressing crisis for many householders throughout the country was extraordinary. I do not know whether he was in the sun enjoying himself along with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, while the people here suffered and therefore was not aware of the hardship they were enduring.
There is a quarry with salt stocks in Carrickfergus in the North of Ireland. I understand it is the only such quarry in the country. Salt can be purchased there for €44 per tonne. In my area of Fingal only 50% of the roads were gritted. Most people were running out of their supplies of salt and when they went to buy more it was all gone. The North of Ireland retains 50,000 tonnes of salt for emergency purposes. What is our reservoir — which can be a space to accommodate anything — or stockpile of salt? I understand it is 50,000 tonnes. Yet, if we were to take a lead from the North of Ireland, proportionally, we would have more than 217,000 tonnes of salt.
I ask the Minister, as I asked this morning in this House, will he put in place a clearly identifiable individual who will retain authority for salt stocks in this country? I referred this morning to the excellent work done by Met Éireann in predicting this crisis. Will the Minister put in place such a person similar to the person who is responsible for our oil reserves?
As the Deputy knows, this is primarily a matter for the local authorities, which report directly to the Minister for Transport and this matter is co-ordinated by the National Roads Authority. That authority, which was part of the emergency committee, ensured we had adequate supplies of salt at all times.
If one was to consider our response compared to Northern Ireland, which the Deputy mentioned, or that of our nearest neighbour the UK and countries beyond there, we succeeded in keeping the national primary route ice free at all times. That was a remarkable achievement.
The Government did not.
We did.
It did not. I drove on it and I know it did not.
Where was the Minister at that time?
We certainly did do that.
People in the rest of the country could not access the primary roads.
What is said is simply the case. I watched the response of the Prime Minister of the UK in the House of Commons who revealed that the UK at that stage had only six days of salt supply. They have six days' supply while we have ten days' supply. I am giving the Deputy the facts and he may not accept them but these are the facts.
It is a figment of the Minister's imagination that the roads were open.
Allow the Minister to reply.
No, it is a fact.
The Leas-Cheann Comhairle took his life in his hands when he travelled from Wexford up to Dublin on the N11. The Minister should try to give us the facts.
We got approximately 3,000 tonnes of salt from Carrickfergus. I must compliment the Department of Foreign Affairs and others who were engaged in this process. We managed to access salt from all over Europe. Our embassies were engaged in this process. I attended a ministerial Council meeting at the weekend and I am aware that our Spanish embassy was involved in accessing salt. Salt supplies were a problem across Europe. I spoke to my ministerial counterpart in Germany who told me that Germany had a problem in this respect. This is a country which is used to heavy snowfalls and gets severe weather during the winter period, yet it was struggling during this period.
I want to comment on what the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran said earlier. This was a whole of Government response, including dealing with the homeless.
There was a large hole in the Government.
I am more than happy for anybody to review our response because it compares very favourably with the responses elsewhere.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
