Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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472. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will provide details of the role of the Office of Emergency Planning throughout the Covid-19 pandemic; and the resources of and the ability of the office to monitor potential national security threats such as Covid-19 in order to better prepare for same. [13321/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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At a National level, I chair the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, which oversees and ensures the fullest level of coordination and cooperation regarding our national and strategic emergency management. The ongoing work of this Task Force has continued during COVID-19. The Office of Emergency Planning, which is established within the Department of Defence, is directly involved in supporting myself as Chair of the Task Force and the Departments who form its membership. This support includes work on areas such as critical infrastructure resilience, risk management and emergency communications. The Office of Emergency Planning also manages and operates the National Emergency Coordination Centre and leads on public safety information campaigns, such as “Be Winter Ready” and “Be Summer Ready”.

The Office of Emergency Planning, with the participation and assistance of all Government Departments and Agencies and Dublin City University Business School, prepared the National Risk Assessment for Ireland2020 which was recently adopted by the Government Task Force and which I will present to Government shortly. The purpose of the National Risk Assessment, which is undertaken on a three yearly cycle, is to identify the key risks facing the State across a broad range of emergencies, to assess the likelihood and impact of these risks and to inform actions at a national level aimed at mitigating such risks. It provides a basis for establishing priorities with regard to risk mitigation at national level and to inform Government decisions regarding resource allocation. It replaces the National Risk Assessment for Ireland 2017.

In the event of an emergency at a National level or threats posed by an emerging emergency situation, the Strategic Emergency Management National Structures and Framework, approved by Government in July 2017, outlines the Lead Government Department principle and how this is applied across a "whole of Government" approach to managing such responses, including pandemics. The Government Task Force oversaw the development of this Framework based on extensive engagement with the Lead Government Departments. The Office of Emergency Planning provides support to these structures in the event of an emergency response being deemed necessary by the Lead Department responsible. Due to the severity of the impact on public health and economic life presented by COVID-19, adapted structures were introduced to manage these risks as envisaged in the Strategic Emergency Management National Structures and Framework.

As Chair of the Government Task Force, I am satisfied that these response arrangements provide a coordinated whole of Government approach.