Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Defence the key findings of his Department's market research into the extent to which the public knew about emergency planning; the lessons his Department draw from its findings; the plans he has to address the issue of public awareness of emergency planning; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23752/06]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I am conscious of the need to keep the public fully informed of developments in the emergency planning area. Following consultation with the key Government Departments and public authorities involved in emergency planning, I decided in 2005 to proceed with a market research programme into public attitudes and awareness of emergency planning in Ireland. The results of this research, which took place in late 2005 and early 2006, will be used to underpin a public information and awareness campaign on emergency planning.

The research provided the following conclusions:- The level of public worry about extreme but unlikely emergencies is at quite a low level though this is susceptible to change in the light of events and media coverage of them. Expectations about the degree of planning likely to have been made by the authorities for an emergency vary widely, with the knowledge about what has actually been done being very limited. There is likely to be a negative reaction to the perception that substantial public resources are being diverted to prepare for events which may never happen, when there are so many urgent priorities to address. It is desired that there be some degree of official preparedness and, in the absence of much existing awareness of any of this, there is clearly a communications job to be done.

Based on the results of this market research, a communications company was commissioned to devise a strategy on the approach to be taken by Government in its future public information and awareness campaign on emergency planning in the short, medium and long term. This work was recently completed and is being examined at present.