Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We did things differently this time. Most balanced observers would say the level of co-ordination across Government, both locally and nationally, in the context of this flooding was better than we have ever seen before. I would say it was significantly better than we have ever seen before. The task force on emergency planning in Government is chaired by me as Minister of Defence. The Department of Defence is very much involved in the planning and discussion. The co-ordination of an emergency response when it is needed is the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, but very much in partnership with other Departments. County managers - chief executive officers as they are now called - should feel free to ask earlier for assistance on the ground from the Defence Forces rather than putting their staff under huge pressure trying to respond to difficult conditions like we have seen from various storms. I would not like to give the impression that I do not think the response was good; the response was much better than we have seen before but we can always learn lessons and try to do better the next time.

In that context I think we should have a debate on this when a new Government is in place to see how we can improve.

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