A terrorist attack on the State on the scale of the recent Madrid train bombings would lead to a call for military and civilian assistance from other EU countries the Minister for Defence admitted today.
Mr Michael Smith, who chairs the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, admitted that there were deficiencies in the equipment available to the Defence Forces, particularly to deal with airborne threats similar to September 11th.
Mr Smith, questioned on RTE Radio One about Ireland's preparedness to deal with a major emergency, refused to say directly if he would ask Britain for military aid in such an event.
He said in the "unlikely" event of an emergency air capability is available. "We would call on all the resources we have available to us within the context of [the] EU to support whatever emergency measures that were necessary.
However, given the close proximity of the two country's and the familiarity of RAF pilots of Irish airspace from training for air-sea rescue missions, military assistance is most likely to be sought from Britain.
Within the Department of Defence the Office of Emergency Planning liaises with the other Government departments and health agencies and An Garda to co-ordinate the use of resources across the State.
In the event of a major emergency in Dublin city centre, Mr Smith admitted the State does not possess helicopters capable of moving large numbers of emergency personnel into the city and extracting large numbers of injured.
In the event of this type if emergency, Mr Smith said "the capacity of the gardai to make space for the normal ambulance and other services would be brought into play very effectively."
He said the State has a number of different emergency plans, dealing with nuclear accidents, terrorist attacks and medical emergencies.
No one person acts as a co-ordinator for these plans, says Mr Smith. The command structure would be similar to that employed during the foot and mouth crisis.
Mr Smith said the threat of a terrorist attack on the State remained very small.