Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

2 o’clock

When an emergency happens in Britain, everybody expects what is known as COBRA, which is basically the Cabinet Office emergency unit, to come into existence under the auspices of the British Prime Minister. Is it appropriate that we would have our own prime ministerial command centre to deal with any emergency that might arise and to bring in the particular expertise we need? Bluntly, it is not my experience that one would go through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. There are experts in every Department, right down to the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, although I do not know what issue would affect it - maybe the collapse of a national monument. We certainly do not have that skill set available in every single Department and it seems unnecessary to have it available. What is needed for a country of our size is one set of crisis managers who can take command under the auspices of the Taoiseach and regardless of whether it is an agricultural issue, a food issue or a nuclear issue, bring in whatever expertise is needed to assist in the management of that. Is there a view that a COBRA-style office might at least be discussed?

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