John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The response to a severe weather event generally involves cross-departmental co-ordination and collaboration. My Department undertook the role of lead Department by chairing national level co-ordination in the case of last winter's severe weather events with local responses being undertaken by the principal response agencies in accordance with the major emergency management framework.

Following these events, the Departments and agencies involved reviewed their experiences in terms of the lessons learned and these are now being considered further having regard to their completeness under the aegis of the government task force on emergency planning. Departments and agencies represented on the task force are engaged in a range of associated work under five strands, as follows: national co-ordination; flood forecasting; road maintenance issues; humanitarian assistance; and major emergency management framework issues.

In relation to the major emergency management framework, a detailed report on preparedness for and response to the severe weather events last winter is close to finalisation by my Department and will be presented to the Government task force on emergency planning as soon as possible. This follows the earlier reviews undertaken by the principal response agencies, the results of which have been taken into account in their preparedness for future severe weather events.

I am keeping the various recommendations made by the joint committee in mind having regard to this work and will be happy to meet it at a future date to discuss the contents of my Department's report when completed.

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