Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence in the context of Storm Éowyn, the specific protocols and contingency plans in place to ensure Defence Forces assistance in future natural disasters; the criteria that are used to determine Defence Forces deployment in such emergency situations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6069/25]

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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40. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will outline any occasion during or in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn when the Defence Forces were asked to aid the civil authorities or the civil power, as per their remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5787/25]

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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In the context of Storm Éowyn, will the Tánaiste outline the specific protocols and contingency plans in place to ensure the Defence Forces' assistance in future natural disasters and the criteria that are used to determine the deployment of the Defence Forces in emergency situations?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Daly for raising this important and timely question in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, which brought a great deal of devastation to so much of our country, particularly, perhaps, to the Deputy's part of the country, namely the west, and to the north west.

I take this opportunity to recognise the contribution made by our Civil Defence units and our Defence Forces in helping those worst affected by the recent storm. As Tánaiste and Minister for Defence - in other words, as their Minister - I thank them for their service and for all they have done. I am particularly grateful to the Civil Defence volunteers who were unstinting in supporting their local communities. I had the opportunity, along with Deputy David Maxwell, to visit the Civil Defence volunteers in County Monaghan to see first hand what they were undertaking. Yet again, the work they engaged in is a reminder to all of us in this House and to people right across the country that we collectively owe the volunteers of the Civil Defence a huge debt of gratitude.

In regard to the Defence Forces, while they are not the primary response agency for non-security related emergencies they do of course where requested provide assistance to the appropriate lead Department in the event of a natural disaster or emergency situation in their aid to civil authority role. In the context of Storm Éowyn, the Defence Forces received and accommodated requests for assistance under the Government task force mechanisms from a number of agencies. They provided assistance ranging from air patrols of electricity lines by the Air Corps, the readiness to support the national ambulance service, they provided accommodation for prison staff during the red warning phase and provision and transportation of equipment and supplies, notably generators, to the affected areas.

My colleagues in government and I are mindful of the impact of this storm. Indeed, looking to the future, we made it clear to the State service providers that any lessons learned must be incorporated into future planning and to the development of the necessary resilience to minimise such impacts, should a weather event of this magnitude occur again. I understand that the review process will be led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and my Department. The Office of Emergency Planning will engage in doing the same.

I understand the frustration of many of Deputy Daly's constituents, who may have been without power or water supplies for significant periods. In the context of this storm, a great deal of the technical expertise that was required may not have been readily available to the Defence Forces but was available to other agencies. We were trying in every way possible to provide practical assistance in terms of transporting equipment, providing accommodation and, as stated, having the Civil Defence very much on the ground to help the most vulnerable in affected communities.

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I am reassured by the Tánaiste's answer regarding the Army's role in dealing with any future natural disaster. We must put it in the context of the devastation that was caused on the west coast, most especially in the Roscommon-Galway constituency that I represent but also in west Galway, Leitrim and Cavan. Forests were blown down, roads were blocked, water supplies were cut off and people had no electricity. In some cases, people did not have water supplies for up to 20 days. This was an intolerable situation. It was unprecedented. I pay tribute to ESB Networks, local authority workers, voluntary groups, sports groups and emergency hub workers.

However, I feel it was important, and people on the ground would have liked the visibility of the Army out on the ground helping people in that situation.

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Tánaiste for his answer to this point. I recognise in his response that he has outlined the challenge Storm Éowyn brought to certain parts of the country. However we like to present it and would contest this position, though, there is a perception in some constituencies, particularly on the western seaboard and midlands and Border area that had the impact of Storm Éowyn been felt in other parts of the country, or had the lack of services as a result of the storm been suffered in other parts of the country, the response might have been greater. I recognise that might be contested but among the most commonly occurring questions I get in parts of the country that are still affected by the lack of communications and communication breakdown was whether the Defence Force could have played a greater role in the restoration operation. I acknowledge the Tánaiste has outlined a number of places where the Defence Force actively participated, but I concur with my colleague, Deputy Daly, that maybe the Defence Forces could have been more relevantly used regarding the homes of people.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies Connolly and Daly. This is my first time engaging with Deputy Connolly, and I congratulate him on his election to Dáil Éireann. I look forward to working with him.

I take the point. As he said, we might contest the views of some, but regardless of whether we contest them, I accept they are the deeply held views. It is exactly how people felt in large parts of this country. I have heard very clearly from people in the west and the north west how they felt extremely isolated and anxious and they wondered whether the electricity was ever going to come back on. Whatever about managing without electricity or water for a day or two, which is not an insignificant challenge, the number of people who had to manage for many weeks is almost unimaginable in terms of the gravity of the challenge that posed.

As a Government, as State agencies and as community organisations, everybody put their shoulder to the wheel. We saw the best of Irish meitheal in terms of people trying to respond. We saw the benefits of the investment we made over a number of years in community facilities. In many parts of the country we had sports club with shower facilities and others that were readily made available to communities. I thank those sports clubs for that. We saw the Civil Defence, of which I am proud to be a Minister, play a very boots-on-the-ground role. I saw the Defence Forces respond to every request that was made of them. The way it works is the Defence Forces responds to requests from the civil authority and local authorities. In fairness to everyone - I am not blaming any local authorities; everyone was working hard - there was a technical expertise element that was perhaps not readily available to the Defence Forces in some of the issues that would have been pressing to the Deputies' constituents.

To be very clear, the State has to do better and be better prepared for adverse weather events. That is why the Taoiseach, others in government and I are determined that the "lessons learnt" thing is not just a box-ticking exercise, but is actually a deep dive into what went well, where went well, because it was not consistent across the country, and what can go better. The Defence Forces will be very willing to play a full and honest role in that assessment.

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I am reassured by what the Tánaiste said. What we need is a reassurance that we learn lessons from this storm. There needs to be the three corridors. We need Uisce Éireann and our local group water schemes to be generator ready. The three corridors issue might be a bit more complicated to solve, but it has to be solved in the national interest, when 700,000 households were without electricity, some of them for almost three weeks. In that context, people need to be reassured that every asset of the State is put into play when we are under pressure with an emergency that struck the west coast in particular.

In retrospect, perhaps we should have called a state of emergency and utilised all those assets. Again, it is easy in retrospect to say that. However, we need to learn the lessons from this storm.

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Tánaiste for his response.

It is clear from his response that he recognises the necessity of the review and how in-depth it needs to be. The Tánaiste also has a clear understanding of the suffering people endured. In terms of the range of skills that is available to the Defence Forces, one area that comes to mind is medical and support skills for people who are medically vulnerable. There certainly is a sense in certain locations, when there was no power, that medical assistance was needed or would have been required and the Defence Forces might have been in a position to provide that.

The Tánaiste put his finger on it when he said that the Defence Forces came to the aid of the civic authorities in all places where it was requested to do so. However, some agencies might be unclear of when that request can be made. The Commission on the Defence Forces report proposes that there should be "Clear inter-agency policies and planning for the deployment of the Defence Forces". We could incorporate that into the review of Storm Éowyn and how we can use that recommendation going forward.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is entirely right. As he and I know, nobody is more willing to get stuck in, help out and serve their country than the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann. It is important to have an even greater level of clarity in terms of interagency response. I will certainly reflect and engage with the Defence Forces in my own Department regarding the medical skills and assistance point. I thank the Deputy for making that point.

I agree with Deputy Daly. We have to recognise that there are certain things we have to do at a national level. There is no passing the buck in that regard. Where things worked well was at a local level. One of the things we have to do, and I know this a view shared by our colleagues, the Taoiseach, all members of the Government and Government parties, is resource local communities and empower local authorities. Where is the generator in the community? Where are the emergency shower facilities? What is the plan if the telecommunications network goes down? We are all so reliant on technology these days. What is available in terms of the Civil Defence? Without pre-empting the review, I am very confident that mapping that out better at a local level and the Government resourcing, financing and supporting it will be one of the things in it.

One thing that worked well is the red weather alert. While I am very conscious that one man tragically lost his life - we think of him and his family - it is a near miracle that we did not see even more fatalities. There is a lot of nonsense on social media regarding the scaremongering of weather warnings. One of the lessons that needs to be learned from this is that these weather warnings are serious. When they are put in place, they are put in place for a reason. We should encourage our authorities to continue to do what they were doing, being forthcoming, honest and blunt with the Irish people in this regard, because I have no doubt that it helped save lives.

I agree with the Deputy regarding trees. We are now spending a fair whack of money every year putting electricity poles and wires that have been knocked down by trees back up. It is not a sustainable situation. We need more trees in the country. We all love trees, but we need to put them in the right place.