Government establishes Emergency Planning Office
Following a review of the structures under which emergency planning is conducted, particularly in the light of the new threats posed by global terrorism, the Government have decided that an Office of Emergency Planning will be established in the Department of Defence. The new body will- take the lead role in emergency planning to meet the new threat from international terrorism and from any escalation in international tensions, including coordination of the responses by the various agencies involved, and- exercise an oversight role in relation to peacetime planning in order to ensure the best possible use of resources and compatibility between different planning requirements.
The existing lead role of Departments in respect of specific emergency planning arrangements will of course continue.
The Taoiseach said " while there is in place an extensive framework of peacetime emergency plans, it is now clear that the assumptions on which emergency planning are currently based need to be reviewed to take into account the possibility of chemical and biological attacks on this State and its people or on neighbouring countries which could indirectly impact on this State."
The Government have also agreed that the High Level Contact Group, established in the wake of the events of September 11 th , will in future be convened by the Department of Defence to support the Office of Emergency Planning and that all Government Departments and agencies should give their full cooperation to the new Office.
3 October 2001