Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)

I thank the witnesses for being here today. It goes without saying I also want to acknowledge the work their people did on the ground during Storm Éowyn. Having said that, there are still issues.

My first question is to the Department. Where are we with standardisation? I am from Galway. I live on the border, believe it or not, as I live in Portumna and I have Offaly on one side and Tipperary on the other. When I have an emergency response requirement, Galway County Council does not - and Mr. Ó Domhnaill as a retired fireman will attest to this - use chainsaws. They do in Tipperary, Offaly, Wexford and Kildare but there is no chainsaw approval for Galway. Where are we with standardisation? That is the first question. I will let the witnesses think about that before they answer, because it is really important.

We cannot have an emergency and have services that do not have the tools to do their job. If we go along then to the CCMA and it states there is consideration about outsourcing with other various agencies, that is taking away from the role of the retained firemen in the local area who know their community the best.

One question I will let anyone answer is, who has responsibility for the vulnerable customer register? That is the person with responsibility for the disabled. We had some people who could not attend college because their wheelchair could not be powered up. That is disappointing. While you engage with the Department, we have DPOs and the Disability Federation if Ireland that have made huge submissions on how the storm had impact on vulnerable people. Who is responsible and for the sharing of that data?

In the morning, we could have another emergency. This time it might not be wind; it could be snow. Where are we with facilitating our local authorities and our retained firemen, who again are in every community, to be able to be stood up at the local fire station to go out, as opposed to being at home with their bleeper? Retained firemen in Galway are not sent into their fire stations when we have a snow alert but are left at home waiting for the bleeper. They are at risk if they are to travel from home. Where are we with the joined-up thinking and the standardisation?

If we get those nuggets right, we then might have a response, aside from all the good work that is done on the ground. That is my first lot of question.