Handling of weather crises criticised

REACTION:THE STATE'S handling of the severe weather crises has been criticised by Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming. Mr Fleming, who is chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, told the committee yesterday that several State agencies "washed their hands" of the responsibility for the floods which affected Cork city and areas of the West.

Mr Fleming also said Seán Hogan, the chairman of the Government’s National Emergency Response Co-ordination Committee was of too low a rank for his job. Mr Fleming said the Government had gone “down through the ranks of the public service” to find one of an estimated 600 principal officers to co-ordinate the State’s response to national emergencies.

He was, he said, “appalled” that a civil servant of secretary general level had not been given the task and he asked why the response to the icy conditions had taken two weeks.

In reply, Mr Hogan said he did not accept the committee had “drifted” in its response. He said there was a new framework in place for two years under which the response to any major emergency would be co-ordinated. While no one formally declared a national emergency, he said this was because the local authorities concerned were carrying out the measures in the framework.

Mr Hogan said he and Minister for the Environment John Gormley had visited flooded regions in November and had seen measures put in place. In relation to the snow and ice in December, he said an assessment of conditions was prepared for Mr Gormley on December 31st. The following Monday, January 4th, an internal review in the department resulted in the convening of an inter-departmental group which met on January 5th and 6th, followed by a briefing for Mr Cowen.