Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

In considering modern terrorism and security issues, one can never know what someone might do or whether threats will be carried out. The interdepartmental group, which is an advisory group under the chair of the Secretary General of my Department, is the first port of call for feeding in information which comes from various quarters. It exchanges such information. It is a very tight group, consisting of the Secretaries General or appropriate officials from the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Defence and Foreign Affairs, the Garda and the Defence Forces. If the group needs anyone from another area he or she is invited to participate. That group is advisory.

Following the events of 11 September 2001 it was believed that we should have an office of emergency planning to co-ordinate the work of the various agencies. There are several agencies — not all are represented on the national security committee — which do whatever is necessary to prepare contingency plans. The Minister for Defence answers questions on that matter although much of the committee's work is confidential. The committee meets frequently, considers that role, examines information and liaises with Eurojust, Interpol and the other groups.

Possible crises and ongoing work are dealt with by those two groups. They come under the aegis of my Department and I am kept abreast of their work. I do not deal on a daily basis with the Office of Emergency Planning. That is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The Minister for Defence, through the Office of Emergency Planning and the task force on emergency planning, oversees emergency planning generally to promote the best possible use of State resources and to ensure compatibility between different emergency requirements. The possible amalgamation of the management of emergencies into a single agency was raised in a report of the Emergency Planning Society which was presented to the Government some months ago. Substantial costs would be associated with this approach and a number of the agencies argued as to whether or not this would be the best thing to do. In a small country it is not difficult to bring people together. The problem is that there are different types of emergency, which require different skills, resources and experience. If one is dealing with a marine oil pollution incident it is a very serious issue, but it is entirely different from reacting to the only crisis we have had in this country in recent years which was the foot and mouth outbreak. It is for this reason that primary responsibility remains with the relevant agency but all of them can pull together when required to do so.

Approximately 23 or 24 groups were involved daily on the foot and mouth campaign. On marine issues there may be seven or eight groups and, therefore, having them all together would be unnecessary. The foot and mouth experience was a good example where people came together from their respective agencies on a committee that worked very well. It was initially chaired by myself and then by the former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Joe Walsh.

Until the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and the Garda Síochána see it otherwise, I think the current arrangement works very well.

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