Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 54: To ask the Minister for Transport if he has reviewed the operation of his Department and of the various transport services throughout the severe weather crisis in December 2010; if he has satisfied himself that road, rail and air transport operated to their optimum; his plans to replace the ad hoc National Emergency Co-ordination Committee with a more permanent, structured and robust body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2633/11]

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 57: To ask the Minister for Transport if following the extreme weather conditions experienced in January and December 2010 he will be implementing alternative plans to ensure that there will be no shortage of salt and grit; the organisation of how national and non-national roads are to be gritted which were an issue in 2010; if further expenditure in the form of snow ploughs, or other equipment is necessary; if an instruction needs to be made from him regarding the provision of salt and grit to the community for distribution through local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2508/11]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 54 and 57 together.

The Government's emergency task force, under the auspices of the Department of Defence, is the framework around which national emergency responses are co-ordinated. Under the published emergency planning procedures, the national response to severe weather events is lead by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The Department of Transport plays a support role in responding to such events.

The severe weather interdepartmental co-ordination group met daily during the recent severe weather in to co-ordinate the national response and monitor impacts across all sectors countrywide. Following a meeting last Wednesday, the group has already commenced a review of the overall response to the recent event. The review will, among many issues, contemplate transport-related matters, community involvement and salt management issues. It is expected to be largely completed over the next four to six weeks and Government Departments, including mine, will be actively contributing to the review based on their experience in December.

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding for the transport sector. The issues raised by the Deputies fall mainly within the operational responsibilities of the relevant agencies - be it the National Roads Authority, the public transport companies, the Dublin Airport Authority or the local authorities - and I have no direct function in respect of them. Following the 27 days of severe weather which commenced on 28 November 2010, overall transport preparedness was much improved on that of winter 2009-2010. This was due in part to the implementation during 2010 of recommendations from the review by the task force into the earlier event. As part of overall transport preparedness, the NRA launched the draft winter maintenance guidelines in early October 2010. These provided a comprehensive framework for local authorities to plan standard winter maintenance, including a schedule for severe weather. The authorities were requested to select routes in their areas for treatment on a priority 1, 2 and 3 basis, where all three priorities would be regular winter maintenance routes but were there would be a reversion to priority 2 and-or 1 as a severe weather event extended.

The NRA was also tasked with centrally procuring salt supplies. However, it was left open to local authorities to purchase their own supplies directly should they wish to do so. The decision to have the NRA purchase salt on a centralised basis contributed to a stock of 50,000 tonnes being available at the start of this winter, with a further 50,000 scheduled for phased delivery over the period to the end of this month. This compares to 10,000 tonnes at the start of winter 2009. Some €6million was also made available by the NRA for additional dry storage facilities for stocks of de-icing salt and a further €2.5million was made available for grit spreaders, snow blades, etc.for local authorities.

I understand that the CIE companies and Luas implemented pre-agreed operational plans for severe weather and, with the support of the local authorities, managed in extremely difficult conditions. Even with the severity of the weather, our airports managed to provide a high level of service and snow-related closures were kept to a minimum. The larger impacts on air travel to and from Ireland were more associated with weather difficulties at major airports abroad. Within the transport and local authority sectors, the commitment of front-line staff in responding in extremely difficult conditions is to be commended.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his wide-ranging reply. I agree with his point regarding front-line staff - whether they are employed in the area of public transport or the local authority sector - who performed miracles on a round-the-clock basis in seeking to ensure that services would not be disrupted. I cannot, however, agree with the Minister's statements to the effect that there was adequate preparation and that the response to the recent severe weather represented a great improvement on what happened previously.

What happened in January 2010 was a debacle. We had no Minister, no salt, no grit and no co-ordination. In the aftermath of last January's events, it was proposed that the NRA would provide salt to the various local authorities. The only other arrangement that seems to have been put in place was a commitment to keep the main roads open. That left a great deal to be desired. Adequate supplies of salt were not provided and, as a result, rationing occurred and local authorities were obliged to mix the salt with grit. In addition, supplies were landed in Cork when they were needed in Donegal. During the four weeks of severe weather leading up to and during the Christmas period, there was no indication that the authorities had learned the lesson which they should have learned following the events of January 2010.

Adequate provision was not made to keep the national transport system operating fully during one of the busiest periods of the year, namely, the Christmas holidays, when people travel into, throughout and out of the country. In the context of this year's review, is the Minister going to allow an emergency co-ordinating body to continue to operate or does he intend to put in place a national, planned structure that will be in a position to operate throughout the entire year? A structure such as that to which I refer should be ready to deal with events that were regarded as emergencies in the past but which are currently becoming the norm. Is the Minister merely going to continue with what is already in place rather than establishing something far more comprehensive in order to ensure that there will not be a recurrence of the events that happened in December?

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge what the Deputy said in respect of front-line staff. I do not agree with him that the response to the severe weather in December was not much improved on what happened last January. As stated earlier, there were only 10,000 tonnes of salt in the country in January of last year. In December, supplies of some 50,000 tonnes were on hand. Those supplies were managed much better on this occasion than was the case last January. Salt was mixed with grit in certain circumstances because such a mixture is more effective for dealing with snow than is the case with regard to ice or black ice. The additional equipment that was provided, the storage facilities for salt that have been made available and other matters to which I referred earlier also represent improvements. That said, I agree with the Deputy that nothing is perfect and that one will not always get everything right. New issues emerged on this occasion, principally the fact that it happened over 27 days, which was a long cold spell. However, I believe it was catered for much more effectively and efficiently than previously.

While we can of course make improvements, if the Deputy is suggesting, as I am sure he is not, that we can magically reach some situation where the 90,000 km of roadway in the country will be kept open during severe weather, that is just not possible. The main target was to ensure that the roads that carry 60% of the ordinary traffic and 80% of the commercial traffic were kept open. That was the priority and any aim below that was to assist locally to try to reach hospitals, factories, schools and so on, which the local authorities made a reasonable effort to do. Nonetheless, I take the point made by Deputy that in general we should learn from each of these events, try to improve as they happen and try to plan for them. A fair summary of what happened on this occasion is that we achieve that.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Nobody underestimates the difficulty in doing a fair job in this regard and I acknowledge that much effort has been made. There is another side to this issue, however. For example, I understand there were many accidents this morning following cold weather last night. Bad bends, hills and other stretches of road should have been identified by the county councils, which know them best, but the county councils are not allowed to salt or grit them to help make them safer. While we have learned from last year, we are far from perfect and have a long way to go to improve on that. The Minister should take cognisance of the fact that people are on the roads. The views of ordinary council workers are not being taken into account. I urge the Minister to reconsider the situation and take on board what these people are saying.

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The responsibility for local and county roads is a matter for the local authority, within its resources. The primary source of resources for gritting local and regional roads should be the local authorities but, unfortunately, it is not, as the taxpayer is the central source. However, the local authorities are the bodies which advise the NRA on the actual routes that are to be gritted, and this information is put into a national database. I agree with the Deputy that the county councils should consider this issue.

We have had two very severe experiences inside a 12 to14 month period. As in Dublin, where there was a difficulty with buses and other vehicles on certain streets, the local authorities now know, if they did not know before, that there are particular difficulties in some areas. I agree with the Deputy that they should examine local arrangements to ensure there is some supply of salt or otherwise close to such locations, and this might mean enlisting the help of a local farmer on a hill or close to an area that can become dangerous. I know the Deputy favours this as I have heard him speak of it previously, and it is something I have fed into the review process. It would be a helpful development.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I cannot agree with the Minister that the planning was adequate for the serve weather we experienced. The supply and delivery of salt was certainly not adequate and the fact that Dublin Bus closed most nights at 9 p.m. was unsatisfactory, as was the fact there was no antifreeze at Dublin Airport and the snowploughs there were not adequate to deal with some of the snow.

There was very severe weather towards the end of November and throughout nearly all of December, which may be an eventuality we will experience on a regular basis. Will the Minister put in place, if not an emergency plan, a structured national plan with a budget so the local authorities, the Department of Transport and the other relevant bodies are able to prepare well in advance and ensure we do not have a situation where people's travel plans are destroyed at one of the busiest times of the year, which is what happened in many cases? While the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has the lead role at present, given so much transport is involved, it might be more appropriate that the Minister for Transport would have the lead role.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister's comments. To have this followed up and put in place, will the Minister draw up guidelines with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government? Has he spoken with the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, in this regard? What the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, has said is very sound and sensible. I ask this in the context of progressing the issue.

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, that is part of the review process. Following the incident this time last year, I had meetings with the IFA in regard to the possibility of enlisting its aid. While it has welcomed that, we need to move that process forward. The question of guidelines and plans is under review and, while there is a plan, it needs to be updated and improved.

To be fair, if one considers what happened across the water and across Europe in similar circumstances, I believe we in this country did much better in dealing with this issue from a transport point of view than any of the other countries. We can be very proud of that because we very often spend our time knocking what has happened, although I know nobody present has knocked the efforts made by the front line staff. Overall, our response was much better than in other places and was much improved. Again, I accept the point we can always improve more.