Mr. Brian Spain:

On the first point, where a local defence unit is involved with a commercial operation, it will normally make a contribution to the local Civil Defence unit and the local Civil Defence unit is allowed to retain that funding to buy equipment for itself.

I will answer the second question on emergency planning, bearing in mind that I wear two hats as chairman of the Civil Defence Board and also in my other role in the Department of Defence with responsibility for the national Office of Emergency Planning. The national framework for major emergencies, which was published in 2006, set out a structure whereby emergencies are dealt with at a local level, which can then escalate to regional and national levels. So there is a structure and system in place for dealing with emergencies. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, which obviously has responsibility for local authorities, is represented on the Government task force on emergency planning. Through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government the local authorities have direct input into emergency planning at the national task force level.

We are satisfied that at exercises we have held and in various incidents that have arisen, when there is a need to escalate an incident from a local level up to a regional level, that has happened. The framework has worked in that regard. Examples would include some of the severe weather incidents where a local authority might have been overwhelmed by the conditions in its particular county and it was able to ratchet it up to a regional level and get the support of not just the surrounding local authorities, but also of the Defence Forces and Civil Defence people. In addition to the local committees, there are regional committees dealing with emergency planning which meet on a regular basis and bring together all the relevant bodies, including local authorities, HSE, Garda and the Defence Forces. There is a system in place to ratchet it up.