Despite numerous attempts by Fine Gael's Environment Spokesman, Phil Hogan to obtain a copy of the national plan that was committed to by the National Emergency Planning Office several years ago to deal specifically with a severe weather crisis, the Department of the Environment confirmed that they did not have such a plan.
Hence meetings currently under way to deal with the crisis are taking place in the absence of a national weather emergency plan.
"We now know why the Government's response to this weather crisis has been so appallingly poor. They don't have a plan. It doesn't exist. Despite a commitment by the Office of Emergency Planning to prepare such a plan no such document is being used as the Government stumble and trip their way to a belated and haphazard response to this three week old crisis.
"The Office of Emergency Planning's website clearly states that;
'A national framework for response to severe weather emergencies is being developed to ensure that all existing local severe weather plans are appropriately coordinated and linked.'
"It is now evident that no severe weather crisis plan was drafted. TheMinister is attempting to cobble together a response three weeks into the current freeze and the people of Ireland are suffering as a result.
"What does exist is one 121 word paragraph in a 99 page guidance document that speaks in abstract terms about the responsibilities of different agencies to deal with severe weather crises. This document is a lengthy discussion about how a national response strategy should be put together. As with so many other areas of Government policy they simply never got around to actually drafting and implementing a final plan and policy.
"What should be in place is a plan that specifically outlines how the
Government coordinates a national response. Specific tasks should be identified and named bodies and persons tasked accordingly. The principle of attaching a name to a job should underpin every emergency plan, otherwise the response will be slow and fragmented, which is exactly what has happened.
"A national plan should clearly identify the following:
* Specific named routes to be cleared and gritted as a priority
* Access to airports to be cleared
* Ports to remain accessible and in order of priority
* Major Hospitals to remain accessible
* Ambulance and medical evacuation contingencies
* Identify specific public transport routes to be serviced as a priority, if bus/rail services fail
* Use of military transport to move people if public transport fails and assign named military units to specific routes.
* Identify regions where the population is isolated andvulnerable and assign military helicopters and trucks accordingly
"I have great admiration for the valiant efforts of local authority staff in dealing with the current crisis. They have performed heroically despite a 12 per cent cut in Government funding, the lay off of a large number of temporary staff and a complete lack of leadership or planning by the Minister for the Environment.
"A Government without a plan, a Minister for the Environment who didn't realise there was a national crisis and a Minister for Transport who has simply abandoned ship is what the country has received in the last three weeks. With leadership like that it is no wonder the country has ground to a standstill," Hogan concluded.
