EMERGENCY RESPONSE COMMITTEE:TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has said that the prolonged spell of Arctic conditions in Ireland will have an "economic cost" for the State in addition to having caused huge inconvenience.
While acknowledging the economic impact, Mr Cowen did not specify its extent. He emphasised the need for authorities to continue co-ordinating their efforts.
“We must try and ensure that we keep our main networks open so that basic life of the country does not come to a standstill,” he said.
Mr Cowen also defended the Minister for Transport against accusations that he did not return sooner from holidays in Malta to deal with the crisis.
“Noel Dempsey left for a few days, was away and came back as planned,” he said.
He also refuted the suggestion that national intervention came too late. He said local authorities had been dealing with the crisis for a week and other issues had arisen only when the spell of bad weather continued.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said the State’s reaction to the severe weather crisis should be assessed but insisted the Government had responded “effectively”.
After yesterday’s meeting of the National Emergency Response Committee, Mr Gormley said the various agencies and departments involved had worked well together.
“I think that what is required is an assessment of how well it worked,” he said.
“I think you always have to be self-critical and see can you do better, but overall I think this operation worked effectively because it did what it set out to do, which was to ensure that we kept the country moving.”
The Minister stressed that “even on Saturday evening” he was dealing with public transport, as well as diesel and electricity supply. “All of these things were under threat.”
He noted that the chairman of the National Emergency Response Committee, Seán Hogan, is due to appear before the Oireachtas Environment Committee today.
The committee, chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming, has already described the emergency response as “poor”.