Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)

Apologies have been received from Deputy Ciarán Ahern and Senator Alice-Mary Higgins. The first item on the agenda is engagement with witnesses on the Review of Storm Éowyn and on Ireland's storm preparedness. Today's meeting is a joint meeting involving the Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy and the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I am delighted to be joined by the Cathaoirleach of the latter, Deputy Micheál Carrigy. He has just stepped out but is in attendance.

I welcome the witnesses. From the national directorate for fire and emergency management in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, we have Mr. Keith Leonard, chair of the national emergency co-ordination group, NECG, and Mr. Paul Rock, deputy chair of the national emergency co-ordination group. From the LGMA and the County and City Management Association, we have Mr. Kieran Kehoe, chair of the CCMA corporate and emergency planning committee, and Mr. Cóilín O’Reilly, chair of the CCMA rural, community, culture and heritage committee. From ESB Networks DAC, we have Mr. Nicholas Tarrant, managing director, Mr. Brian Brady, head of network resilience and climate adaptation, and Ms. Karen McGeough, senior manager for storm readiness and resilience. From An Crompán, we have Mr. Séan Ó Domhnaill, manager, who is joining us via MS Teams. I thank the witnesses for attending.

I remind all those in attendance to ensure their mobile phones are on silent mode or switched off. Before I invite the witnesses to deliver their opening statements, I wish to advise them of the following in relation to parliamentary privilege. Witnesses and members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

Regarding the format of this meeting, we will have a bit of a hard stop because of Dáil business and upcoming votes. I will invite the witnesses in turn to make opening statements limited to a maximum of five minutes. Once these have been delivered, I will then call on the members of the committee, in the order that they indicate to me, to put their questions. The committee operates a rota system and I will provide each member with an initial five-minute slot to engage with our witnesses. It is important to note that the five minutes are for questions and answers. Therefore, it is essential that members put their questions succinctly and that witnesses answer succinctly. Members just have five minutes. When all members have concluded their initial engagements, if time permits, we will have a second round in which each member will have up to three minutes for questions and answers. Please note that the duration of this meeting is limited and, therefore, times must be strictly adhered to. The aim is to finish at approximately 2.30 p.m. I ask everyone to be focused in their contributions.

I will call on the various organisations to deliver their opening statements in the following order: Mr. Keith Leonard, Department of housing; Mr. Kieran Kehoe, LGMA; Mr. Nicholas Tarrant, ESB Networks DAC: and Mr. Séan Ó Domhnaill, An Crompán.