Ireland is to set up a new office of emergency planning whose role will be to deal with the threat of terrorist attacks using chemical and biological weapons, Taoiseach Mr Bertie Ahern said today.
The office, part of the Department of Defence, will "meet the new threat from international terrorism" following the devastating strikes on the United States on September 11.
"It is now clear that the assumptions on which emergency planning are currently based need to be reviewed," Mr Ahern said.
The new plans needed 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", he added.
The Government is considering emergency plans to deal with a range of disasters resulting from a terrorist attack - including the possibility of a hijacked plane plunging into Britain's Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant just across the Irish Sea.
AFP