Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for allowing me in a second time. I wish to focus in on the Coast Guard with Mr. Clonan. I note from the Comptroller and Auditor General's report that 18, I think, vehicles were purchased. There were issues with procurement but I have heard what the Secretary General has said in that regard on reform around procurement, which is welcome. An issue I raised last May, of which Mr. Clonan might be aware, was one brought to my attention by members and volunteers from the Coast Guard about the use of the vehicles. He gave me a response at the time saying there are rules around the use of those vehicles. However, what I was saying at the time was that if members were allowed bring them to their homes it could increase response times. The reports I had at the time were members were leaving their home, going to the base, collecting the vehicle and then going to the scene. Mr. Clonan said correctly that not all members had to go to base. They could leave the vehicles at home. Has there been any progress on that? Given my limited time, he might send a note on that if he cannot come back to me immediately after this.

My second question is for Mr. Spratt and concerns an area of great interest to me, namely, planning for major incidents, be they regional or national and relating to rail, road, sea or air. How frequently are the emergency services and other agencies engaged in training in these areas? I mention also co-ordination between local authorities. I am aware of one local authority where its disaster communications centre needs to be relocated from its main building. The officials cannot hypothesise about various incidents but given the potential scale of one of these incidents, how prepared are we as a State to deal with such incidents? I do not mind whether Mr. Clonan or Mr. Spratt come in first.