Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress to date on the development by each local authority of an incident management plan; if all risks to life, property, heritage and the environment have been assessed; if appropriate control measures have been put in place to deal with all identifiable risks; if he will confirm that sufficient resources are provided to deal with identifiable risks and that equipment and safe systems of work are risk assessed by competent persons; if he will further confirm that review committees have been established in all local authorities and that best practice systems are being established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23149/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Framework for Major Emergency Management, which was approved by the Government in 2006, introduced an integrated emergency management process comprised of five stages: hazard analysis, mitigation, planning and preparedness, response and recovery. Under the Framework, each of the county and city councils has had, since September 2008, a new format Major Emergency Plan. In this context, each local authority has undertaken a risk assessment based both locally for their functional area and regionally with the other principal response agencies, An Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive. This risk assessment process is based on the guidance in the Framework document and the additional guidance in 'A Guide to Risk Assessment in Major Emergency Management'. Mitigation measures have also been considered in this context.

The purpose of the Framework is to take a realistic approach to the level of preparedness of the principal response agencies. Each principal response agency's preparedness should enable it to respond effectively to the scenarios that it is most likely to encounter. The emphasis of the Framework is on bringing the full capacity of the principal response agencies to bear effectively on a major emergency situation and extending where necessary rather than creating extra capacity for very unlikely scenarios. The scenarios identified in the risk assessment are used to guide the required level of response preparedness. Each local authority has undertaken a self-assessment appraisal of its level of preparedness in accordance with the requirements of the Framework. The appraisals have been validated by my Department and feedback has been provided to each local authority.