Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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18. To ask the Minister for Defence when the last meeting of the Government task force on emergency planning was held; the agenda for the meeting; when it is planned to hold a further meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46638/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, which I chair, includes senior officials of Government Departments, senior officers of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces and officials of other key public authorities, which have a lead or support role in Government emergency planning.

The Task Force meets on a regular basis. So far this year there have been four meetings of the Task Force and the next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 11 November 2013. The last meeting took place on Monday, 23 September 2013.

While details of matters discussed at meetings of the Task Force and the specific Agenda items are confidential, I can confirm that the Task Force examines current risks and supports coordination arrangements for emergency planning across the whole of Government.

The Task Force is regularly briefed on such matters as the current security threat, which is provided by An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. It also receives regular updates specifically from the lead Government Departments. An example is the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, which chairs the National Steering Group under the Framework for Major Emergency Management, and is the lead Government Department in eleven of the forty two emergency scenarios identified.

The Task Force regularly addresses other emergency planning issues ranging from risk assessment to training and exercises as well as receiving regular briefings on current issues from the various lead Government Departments on their specific roles and responsibilities and their associated work programmes. The Task Force establishes Subgroups from time to time to specifically look at particular areas of emergency planning that may need to be addressed.

The next meeting of the Task Force, which will take place on Monday, 11 November 2013, will report on the normal standing items but will mainly focus on the launch of the national annual winter preparedness campaign. After that meeting, together with my colleague Phil Hogan, T.D, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, we will launch the 'Be Winter Ready' information campaign.

The purpose of the campaign is to provide information to the public on how best to prepare for winter. The advice is being delivered through the website and via Aertel page 592, along with the “Be Winter Ready” booklets. In addition, a twitter account is being launched and will be tweeting during the winter period to augment the ‘Be Winter Ready’ campaign, which can be followed through links on the website.