Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 459: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if the Principal Response Agency's controller of operations inspected on site the damage being caused to property and the risk of life during the course of the storm which took place in Newcastle West on 31 July and 1 August 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40889/08]

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 460: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason the major emergency plan was not activated on 31 July and 1 August 2008 during the storm which caused serious damage and danger to life in Newcastle West; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40890/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 459 and 560 together.

The process for declaring a major emergency by a principal response agency is set out in the document "A Framework for Major Emergency Management" and in the local authorities' major emergency plans. If a local authority is the principal response agency, it is a matter for the appropriate local authority personnel in accordance with the authority's major emergency plan to declare and manage the major emergency involved and I have no function in the matter.