Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1032. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures that have been put in place by her Department to ensure strategic emergency management responses to future storm and severe weather events taking into account the experiences and learnings of winter 2024/2025 and the review into the response by the State and State agencies to the impact of storm Éowyn; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47243/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, which is chaired by the Minister with responsibility for Defence, includes senior representatives from all government departments and agencies. It is responsible for the oversight and coordination of national-level emergency management. My Department continues to actively participate in the National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG).

Within my own Department, officials have initiated several measures to ensure that adequate strategic emergency management responses are in place to cater for any future storms or severe weather events. These include:

A review and update of circulars relating to contingency arrangements in the event of unforeseen school closures.

The development of IT solutions to facilitate real-time data being available on schools for such things as power supply, water supply and storm damage.

Coordination with ESB Networks to ensure that ESBN has all necessary data for each school to respond to severe weather events.

A review of building programmes to ensure greater resilience in the event of severe weather events.

A review of learnings from the perspective of school transport-related issues

My Department will continue to engage with all stakeholders in regard to future contingency planning for schools in the event of impacts from severe weather or other relevant issues.