Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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Ar dtús báire, ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. We all know we are facing into a tumultuous winter. Many people are terrified of the energy bills that will land on their doormats. Families are also concerned about the prospect of blackouts. Unfortunately I remember when we used to have blackouts. They were quite a regular occurrence in Ireland. Most people are unfamiliar with blackouts and they see a functioning energy system as part of the social contract they enter into with the State.

Another part of the social contract we take for granted is that our phones and the Internet will work. This too, it appears, is in doubt. The electricity outages we potentially face come with the threat of mobile phone and broadband blackouts. Once unthinkable scenarios are now a very real prospect. I have seen reports that 999 emergency calls could also be affected. One of the comforts in the blackouts years ago was that we had landlines and public phones. We knew that if anything went wrong we could still call for help or even just for comfort. The corded landline did not need additional electricity to run. Unfortunately those times have changed. Even after the power comes back, we could be seeing prolonged outages of the mobile and broadband networks because the power outages increase the probability of electronic components failing if subjected to abrupt interruptions.

How exposed are we? What contingencies are built into our communications networks? Throughout Europe the mobile phone mast antennae come with batteries that can last for up to 30 minutes in the event of a blackout. Do the masts here have this facility? How long can they survive a power outage?

We know that in a gas supply outage, procedure dictates that some customers must be prioritised. For example, an industry's gas supply is restrained before a hospital's gas supply and households are prioritised. If there are electricity outages by the system operators, will they be able to isolate the mobile phone network antennae when they are cutting power to sections of the grid? Reports from France and other EU countries are that it is not possible to isolate them and maintain power to them.

On 7 September, the Minister announced that joint gas and electricity emergency training exercises would be held. These involved Gas Networks Ireland, EirGrid, ESB Networks and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. Did these exercises take account of communications networks? Did they look at scenarios where those communications networks would be knocked out? What mitigation attempts are being put in place by the Department? We know that telecoms companies throughout Europe are snapping up emergency generators.

Things are very serious. Nobody wants the lights to go out. Certainly the Opposition and members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action have worked very hard and co-operated with the Minister. We are concerned that we are seeing a regular pattern of rushed legislation and requests to waive pre-legislative scrutiny. Only this week we were asked to waive pre-legislative scrutiny on a Bill that would disapply the planning system and the environmental impact assessment process with regard to emergency generators.

We all have concerns about blackouts. There can be knock-on and unintended consequences, one of which I am raising today with regard to communications networks and mobile phones. What contingency plans has the Government put in place?

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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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.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive answer. It is reassuring to hear there are back-up generators for ECAS. The concern is that those who need to get in touch with ECAS will be able to do so because most people now use mobile phones or online services. The response did not address my specific questions on battery storage or the isolation of antennae on the grid. I will contact ComReg, and revert to the Minister of State if I do not get answers. It is of serious concern that people could be left stranded in the case of blackouts.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The national energy security framework, published in April 2022, sets out the response of the Government to the Ukraine crisis in the context of natural gas, oil and electricity. It provides a single overarching initial response to address Ireland's energy security needs in the context of the war in Ukraine and sets out the Government's action in response to these issues across key themes, which includes ensuring security of energy supply in the near term.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has set up an energy security emergency group, chaired by the Department's Secretary General, under the national energy security framework. This group ensures that emergency plans are in place, and are stress-tested and up to date. Emergency training exercises have been ongoing over many years as part of regular and ongoing contingency planning.

Gas Networks Ireland and EirGrid, the latter working in conjunction with ESB Networks, have robust procedures in place with regard to managing any shortfall in gas and electricity supplies. They regularly participate in simulation exercises to stress test the systems and procedures for emergencies to ensure that Government, State agencies and industry are prepared to effectively manage a range of potential scenarios.

The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities oversees the overarching emergency plans and works in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. ComReg can follow up on this issue.