Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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As suggested in the Joint Oireachtas Committee's report, I have asked my Department to complete its own review of the severe weather events as soon as possible. This report, which is close to finalisation, draws on information provided to the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and addresses a wide range of issues emerging from the co-ordination of response to the two extreme weather events.

It deals with issues that fall within my Department's areas of responsibility, including undertaking the role as the Lead Government Department for co-ordination of response to severe weather emergencies at National level. It also looks, inter alia, at the linkages under the Framework for Emergency Management between the front-line response and coordination at central Government level, and seeks to provide necessary recommendations to improve national co-ordination and responses to such emergencies.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee made recommendations on a range of issues, including some which fall outside my areas of responsibility, such as the role of the Office of Public Works in relation flood mitigation, and to the role of the ESB in hydro-electric power production. The Joint Committee's report has placed relevant information on the public record, and it is not my role to establish an inquiry into these matters. Necessary reviews were undertaken in relation to my area of responsibility, particularly on the lessons learned in relation to the emergency response, and appropriate actions have been taken. These include the development of an interim protocol between the relevant local authorities concerned with the River Lee and the ESB for sharing information and enhancing flood warnings, pending the development of flood forecasting and warning systems as part of the OPW's flood mitigation programmes.