Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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111. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform whether there will be a review of the Tetra communications network for emergency services, given the experience of its performance during Storm Éowyn; whether it is planned to be replaced; if so, the technology that will be used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4827/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Tetra communications network was designed to provide a reliable and robust emergency network for the State's emergency personnel with the widest possible coverage and is delivered by Tetra Ireland. The coverage of Tetra is far in excess of the sum of the commercial mobile networks in Ireland.

The network offers push to talk voice services for emergency personnel throughout the state. It also allows for short text based messages to be sent between terminals that are used to deliver status updates between personnel and control rooms. This allows organisations such as An Garda Síochána and the National Ambulance Service to operate in remote areas with reliable communications. During extreme weather events many organisations make extensive use of the network as part of their co-ordinated response; this includes the Local Authority sector and ESB networks.

My Department acts as the Contracting Authority for the contract with Tetra Ireland and established a single supplier framework for the drawdown of services in December 2020. Any organisation that provides emergency services to the State may drawdown services from the framework.

In order to provide maximum coverage and resilience all areas in the country are covered by overlapping service from at least two base stations with battery backup in place for key sites. This level of coverage has allowed service to be provided during previous severe weather events.

The number and duration of power and telecommunication faults experienced across the country as a result of Storm Éowyn has not been seen before.

Officials from my Department attended the National Emergency Coordination Group briefing before the storm and immediately contacted Tetra Ireland and verified that an emergency response plan was in place.

After the storm a number of base stations were cut off from power and operating on battery backups. As those batteries were depleted a large number of sites in the west and north-west of the country were lost. This resulted in a loss of service in parts of those geographic areas. Service for the rest of the country did not see the same impact.

The highest level of disruption was seen 24 hours after the storm on the 25th of January when in-vehicle coverage dropped from 99% to 82% in the western region while handheld radio coverage dropped from 97% to 72%.

Immediately after the Storm my officials engaged with both Tetra Ireland and ESB Networks in order to activate emergency contingency plans. Officials then began engaging with the NECG, Tetra Ireland and ESB networks in order to prioritise power restoration for key sites. A daily status report was sent to the NECG.

Recovery progressed well over the weekend, well in advance of the recovery of commercial mobile networks.

My officials will be reviewing the issues seen with the network in order to identify what steps can be taken to avoid any repeated issues during future extreme weather events of this scale. This will involve discussions with Tetra Ireland, ESB Networks and the wider emergency service bodies.

At this point there are no plans to replace the Tetra network. My officials are examining a range of technologies currently in development that might replace or augment the Tetra network in the future.