Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a bheith linn ar maidin don cheist seo. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and I thank him for taking the time to address this matter. It is one I have been kicking around since entering the Seanad. Given the weather over the past number of weeks, it is particularly timely. We know that weather does not recognise borders, so it makes perfect scientific, social, economic and agricultural sense that neither would those who provide us with our weather information. There are people who move, go to school, work or farm on both sides of the Border, and in periods of adverse and emergency weather alerts we should operate in a more cooperative and cohesive way to ensure people are kept safe and have access to the fullest information available to them, given the nature of the Border and how open it is at the moment. The Minister will have noticed on many instances over recent weeks, whether on "The Late Late Show" or Met Éireann, the Six Counties in the north east have been amputated from many maps. The HSE issued us, as Oireachtas Members, maps with those Six Counties amputated from them.It does not need to be a contentious political issue; it is relatively easily resolved. I understand there are jurisdictional issues and all of that. Perhaps I am naïve in this sense, but it seems relatively straightforward to merely obtain the relevant information that pertains to the Six Counties and highlight it as well. Weather agencies and emergency bodies in the North have a responsibility to show what is happening across the rest of the country as well.

The Commencement matter speaks for itself. We have a particular need to engage the local government authorities on the issue because in my experience, having previously been a member of Belfast City Council, our local government structures are often the front line in dealing with these emergencies.