Poll: Country not ready for emergency
The majority of people believe Ireland is not prepared to cope with a serious national emergency, whether man-made or natural, it was revealed today.
In the aftermath of the riots on Dublin’s streets, it emerged that seven out of 10 people believe there are not proper plans in place to cope with disasters.
Fine Gael’s Billy Timmins said a single emergency planning body must be created through legislation to report to the Government in instances of disasters.
“Emergency planning can save lives, but in order to do so it must be co-ordinated and effective,” the party’s spokesman on defence said.
“In order to ensure the best possible and most efficient emergency planning, consideration must be given to underpinning the role of the Task Force on Emergency Planning through legislation, and creating a single emergency planning body, which would report to the highest level of Government, namely the Taoiseach.”
Mr Timmins said the findings of the survey carried out for the Emergency Planning task Force were not surprising.
The TD called for the Government to clarify whether the group, which was established after the September 11 attacks in the US, was consulted in advance of last Saturday’s Love Ulster parade.
The Wicklow TD said it should be clarified if any aspect of the emergency plan for the capital was activated during the trouble on Dublin’s streets on Saturday last.
“Ireland is clearly unprepared for man-made or natural emergencies.
"As it stands, our emergency response is split between a large number of Government departments, state agencies and sub-groups, and even though a number of emergency situations have been simulated, we have never seen any results from these exercises,” he said.
