Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for that feedback. I will double-check but it is my understanding that they would well be able to use it. I met with members of the Civil Defence based in Mayo who were already part of that active trial and it is great to see that the community initiatives are also built into it.

For the Deputy's information, the European Commission is proposing to bring in legislation next year that will formulate that entire system. It is likely that will happen during the Irish EU Presidency. That will give us a great opportunity to influence this. Ireland will then co-ordinate with the European Commission to agree a date to have its sub-system in place. Components of the Irish system have already been deployed in recent years as part of the recovery and resilience facility project 2.5 and the remaining components will be installed to meet whatever timeline is ultimately agreed with the European Commission. As I said, that is likely to happen on our watch, during the EU Presidency.

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