Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boylan for raising this very important matter. I recognise how vital telecommunications services are to citizens for so many aspects of their daily lives. These include emergency situations during which it is imperative that individuals can contact emergency services by means of telephone and the Internet.The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Government are very focused on the need to ensure that telecommunications services for the use of emergency communications are not interrupted during the very challenging time we are facing this winter with respect to the security of energy supply.

The Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, the independent regulator, is responsible for the regulation of the electronic communications sector in accordance with national and EU legislation. Regulation 16 of the Universal Service Obligation Regulations 2011 requires undertakings to ensure, to the fullest extent possible, the availability of fixed voice in the event of catastrophic network breakdown or unforeseen circumstances. Voice providers must also take necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency services.

In addition, operators of public communications networks or publicly available electronic communications services are obliged under the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Framework) Regulations 2011 to take appropriate technical and organisational measures to appropriately manage the risks posed to security of networks and services. In particular, these regulations stipulate that measures shall be taken to prevent and minimise the impact of security incidents on users and interconnected networks. Specifically, the regulation states the following information: "Pursuant to 16(2) of the Universal Service Regulations 2011, (2) "An undertaking providing a publicly available telephone service shall take all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency services"."

While oversight of all of these obligations is a matter for ComReg which is statutorily independent in the operation of its functions, I understand from officials in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications that ComReg first engaged with operators of public communications networks and publicly available electronic communications services in October 2021 as a consequence of the risk of possible power outages last winter. The purpose of this engagement was to ensure that operators were factoring into their risk assessments the increased risk of power outages across the national grid.

Further to this, in June of this year ComReg facilitated an information session between the power industry and operators. The purpose of this information session was to update the operators on the current level of risk in respect of electricity supply and to inform operators of the expected impact to electricity supply if such a risk was to materialise.

ComReg continues to engage with operators regularly, particularly in light of the European energy crisis. From this engagement, ComReg understands that operators have and continue to factor in the risk of power outages into their business continuity plans and risk management protocols. The emergency call answering service, ECAS, is responsible for answering all 112 and 999 calls and texts, providing a vital link between the caller and the emergency services, namely Garda, fire, ambulance, the Coast Guard or, in cases involving aircraft, air traffic control.

ECAS is a stage 1 public safety answering point. Its role is to establish the emergency service being requested by a caller and the location of the caller or incident for the purpose of routing the call to the most appropriate emergency services centre, which will then take responsibility for the call and the decision in terms of the appropriate response to the call. ECAS is currently delivered from centres in Navan and Ballyshannon which take emergency calls from anywhere in the State. I am pleased to confirm that ECAS has on-site diesel generators in its call centres in Ballyshannon and Navan for use in case of a power outage, which will ensure that individuals who have the ability to make a call will get through to the service. These generators are tested on a monthly basis so as to ensure that there will be no interruption to ECAS services.