Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I recently attended a session of the Oireachtas education programme initiated by the Ceann Comhairle. With regard to the booklet Preparing for Major Emergencies, it may be possible for those running the programme in the individual schools to incorporate the booklet as part of the programme. I am not sure how many booklets were printed so perhaps the Minister will tell me. In most instances when we talk about schools we are talking about the next generation, but the next generation is only three or four years away. We are passing on vital information to these students. It has taken some time to bring the programme to its present stage. It is important to incorporate the emergency planning booklet into the programme. If this were done it would also mean that when a book was brought home by an individual student there would be discussion of it within the family, creating further interest in the issue which will last longer than the publications and advertisements associated with the initial launch.

Local radio is now a major contributor to rural and community life. Is the Minister satisfied that the launch campaign was sufficient in this regard? News items and so on are particularly noticeable. How many booklets were printed in Russian, Polish and Chinese? Was there much demand for them? The Minister said he could not differentiate between language speakers in calculating the number of hits on the website, but was there much demand for booklets in each of these languages?

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