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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has called a security meeting today arising from the terrorist attack in Sweden and the bomb attack on a bus transporting the Borussia Dortmund football team to a Champions League.
“These are things that we cannot be distant from. We are a non-aligned, non-aggressive country and though the threat is always present, it is not at a high level in Ireland and we try to keep it that way,” he said.
Kenny said the gardaí are monitoring a small number of individuals “who do not have this country’s interests at heart”.
The Taoiseach was answering questions in the Dáil yesterday about what Ireland’s national emergency management plan is in the case of a terrorist attack or natural disaster.
National emergency
Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin said the current national arrangements for emergency management have effectively been left unchanged since it was first introduced by Willie O’Dea a decade ago.
This is despite the fact the scale and nature of potential emergencies has evolved dramatically since then, he argued.
All structures are the same and there is no legislation concerning co-ordination of a State response to a major emergency.
Ireland is one of the only countries in the world without any form of statute legislation concerning the structure for responding to national emergencies, such as widespread flooding or a public health disaster.
“It is the consistent model internationally that the prime minister’s office takes the lead responsibility. I believe it is time for us to review our structures and implement appropriate legislation,” said Martin.
‘Up its game’
Labour leader Brendan Howlin said Ireland needed to “up its game” in terms of protections against terrorist attacks.
“I believe we need to think beyond just those sorts of incidents. Please God there will not be an explosion or mishap in a nuclear institution in Britain, but we have to plan for that.
“A much more likely attack is a possible terrorist attack. We would be foolish to think that we are immune from that in this jurisdiction. I know that An Garda Síochána monitor some people in this country and so on. We need to up our game on this whole area,” said the Wexford TD.
Howlin said the cyber-security area is where Ireland is probably most prone to attack.
“It could cripple us,” he said.
Over the years, all of our Government departments have been subject to cyber attacks, said Howlin. He said that some of these attacks had not got into the public domain.
It could have been absolutely crippling if, for example, the Department of Social Protection was shut down by a cyber attack. It would be hugely disabling for us.
“I take the Deputy’s point, for instance, in respect of cyber attacks. We now have such an enormous investment in digitisation in so many companies around the country. This is an issue that needs to be looked at,” said the Taoiseach.
Howlin told the Dáil that when an emergency happens in Britain, what is known as Cobra, the Cabinet Office emergency unit, kicks in under the auspices of the British Prime Minister.
“Is it appropriate that we would have our own prime ministerial command centre to deal with any emergency that might arise and to bring in the particular expertise we need? Is there a view that a Cobra-style office might at least be discussed?” he asked.
Cobra-style meeting
The Taoiseach said his department does not take the lead in such situations, but said if the nature of the emergency warranted a special Government meeting, the Taoiseach’s department would call such a Cobra-style meeting.
But he said the national emergency co-ordination group would take over in such an incident.
However, Kenny said there is a plan underway to update the emergency framework.
“The Office of Emergency Planning has prepared a draft document, entitled ‘Strategic Emergency Management – National Structures and Framework’. That is due to come to Government very shortly and we will publish it before the summer so people can reflect on the very issue,” said the Taoiseach.
Kenny said the updated paper will provide a “forum to discuss these central questions”.
Martin said he agreed with Howlin in regard to Ireland’s state of readiness in the context of a terrorist attack.
“We are far too complacent, as a country, in regard to that threat and we should do far more to prepare our responses.”
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Angela Kerins, the reason I no longer donate money to charity.
@David Oppenshore: Well said sir. Money only going to pay CEO salary and outrageous expenses.
No charity, sporting or other such organisation should be given public money unless they first waive any ‘rights’ to protect themselves from public scrutiny of their finances. They can carry on freely without that money if they chose. Take it or leave it.
@Sega Yolo: totally agree
@Sega Yolo: perfectly said.
Imagine that. Kerins took home a ludicrous salary whilst miserably mismanaging the running of a charity and somehow is managing to outdo herself and create a lasting damage on the public’s ability to hold future disasters to account…
Just when you think you know the limits of someone’s toxicity to society, she goes and out does herself once more without even being in the room.
The Irish charity industry is destroyed by the greed of the few!
Vote with your feet,
Don’t give a penny to them!
@Niall Power: will never give a penny to any charity that pays their CEO and subordinates excessive salaries.
The pac committee full of incompetent politicians is not fit for purpose. The questioning of the fai officials the other day was very weak, pure amateurish, they really didn’t know their brief, what questions to ask.
@Adrian: they could have asked what day it was and still not received a straight answer.
@Dave O’Keeffe: they’re not legal experts, they were afraid to ask the questions the other day because of the potential legal repercussions, hence the farce that it was. They need legal experts on those committees, they should be able to come to some arrangement without turning them into tribunals. A bunch of incompetent politicians protecting their own interests, paying themselves 15k fees while asking stupid questions like “how many bank accounts do you have?”, turns the whole process into a joke and achieves nothing.
@Adrian: the questions were 100%. The problem was the FAI officials refused to answer. Nothing the pac can do about that.
@Adrian: They were told what they could ask “legally”. The law seems to protect the wealthy wrongdoers.
People in high positions have to be held accountable in public. However I struggle with the idea of giving the likes of Ruth Coppinger and others the power to carry out public investigations and give them compellabilty. If that became the case I could see people’s good name and reputation coming second to political point scoring.
Totally irrelevant nothing to do with FAI. The FAI is not a charity – it is a business and why they kept quoting the Kerins case is s mystery to me.
Looking at some of the motley members of various committees one would have to be dubious. Some are up to the task but many others fail miserably. Some are rude, arrogant, ill-informed and totally oblivious to their briefs. If they are that determined to cross the line then they should be open to full retribution in the courts. The verdict in the Angela Kearns case was spot on!!
@Chris Gaffney: I don’t know about that, why should good TDs and Senators who ask the difficult questions be muzzled by a ruling like that? I do get that there are some clowns on these committees, and they say things for headlines and there 30 seconds on sixone so the voters back home can see them sticking up to the dubs, but the real nature of these committees should be open, honest and sometimes difficult conversations with people like Delaney.
Lawmakers unhappy that the have to work within the law, my heart goes out to them.
Even if there was no Kerins ruling the public voted to reduce the powers of the committee so they are limited from the offset .
Kerins is looking for and going to get a multi million damages award for her suffering at PAC ..this is the biggest joke of all.
Delaney puffed and bluffed and ran circles round the PAC the Kearins judgment rules thst the PAC cannor go outside its remit or in other words tits terms of reference. Once the PAC keep within its remit lile asking questions on the €1000 loan then it would not fall foul on the Supreme Courts judgement.
Who can afford to bring a case to the High Court or Supreme Court ?
The Courts and Judges are only there to interpret the Law and ensure it is upheld. They do no make law.
If the PAC feel that the ‘Laws’ of our land are not sufficient, then it is up to them as legislators to change the ‘Laws’, so that their tongues are not tied when questioning individuals and agencies about their conduct. They have no one to blame but themselves for the situation the PAC finds themselves in.
1/ The Kerins issue is not case law yet, is awaiting determination on appeal, & is not relevant. Mr. D used the pending determination to ward off awkward questions, left them hanging out there, & thereby damaged his public standing.
2/ The committee did not need to subject anyone, including Mr. Delaney, to interrogation on their income or expenses, & just stay on track about the application of public funds & FAI corporate management. The investigative journalists have put these questions out, the public are expecting the FAI to provide the answers.
3/ Sport Ireland can with hold funding, insist on a forensic audit of the FAI accounts for the years when public funding was drawn down, & require appropriate governance structures, in accordance with the separate reviews already commissioned.
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