Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I agree this is a matter at which we need to look. I discussed the matter with the Tánaiste, Deputy Martin, because as Minister for Defence he is responsible for emergency response. I may be wrong, but it would appear that one of the reasons we did not send a team abroad is because we are not set up in that way in Ireland. For example, when the terrible events happened at Creeslough, we were largely dependent on people coming from Northern Ireland to do search and rescue for us. We are obviously not set up for earthquakes but we need to be set up for things such as gas explosions and, God forbid, bombs. It seems we are not. It is not just a case of not having a crew to send abroad. We do not really have the right set-up should an event like that happen here. That is a matter we will look into.

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