Cormac Devlin
Ceist:190. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the key elements of the National Risk Assessment for Ireland 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16477/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 16 April 2024
Ceisteanna (190)
Freagraí scríofa
As Chair of the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, I published the National Risk Assessment for Ireland, 2023 on 28 March 2024. It identifies 22 key risks with Antimicrobial Resistant Infection, Pandemic, Cyber Attack and Disruption to Critical Supply Chain rated as our highest probability and highest impact risks.
Risks appearing for the first time include: Disruption to Critical Supply Chain; Damage to Undersea Infrastructure; Disruption to Oil Supply; Disruptive Use of Drones; and Antimicrobial Resistant Infection. The risk assessment will be constantly reviewed by the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, which I chair. This will allow for continuous horizon scanning of potential changes in the risk environment.
In preparing this assessment, all Government Departments and their relevant agencies were involved in identifying national-level risks. In addition, the risks identified in the Overview of Strategic Risks (2023) prepared by Department of Taoiseach were taken into account. Added to these, the risks contained in the Regional Major Emergency Risk Registers were considered. These registers are prepared by the Principal Response Agencies under the Framework for Major Emergency Management. They were provided via the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This allowed for a comprehensive top-down and bottom-up approach with the process resulting in a final list of 22 key strategic risks for the country. As part of the process, a public survey of these risks was also conducted, which allowed for a wider societal view of these risks.
At the event to publish this new National Risk Assessment, I was joined by European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic. We jointly launched new research, funded by the European Commission, on horizon scanning for emerging risks, which was conducted by Dublin City University. This project has allowed us to integrate the assessment of traditional strategic risk, which is based on historical data, with the foresight and forecasting required to monitor emerging risk.
My Department has forwarded the National Risk Assessment for Ireland 2023 to the European Commission as part of Ireland's reporting requirements under Article 6 of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, where it will contribute to the overview of risks that the EU may face in the future.
Officials in my Department have now commenced a cross-government process to assess the capabilities of Government Departments to deal with the 22 national-level risks identified in the National Risk Assessment. The results of this work will be published later this year.