Opposition slams lack of emergency response system

THE Government has no mechanism to declare a national state of emergency to put in place a countrywide response to a crisis such as severe flooding and heavy snowfall.

The opposition last night described the response system for weather disasters as “bizarre” and “dysfunctional” after an Oireachtas committee heard it was the responsibility of each local authority to declare an emergency in their own area.

Despite this obligation not a single local council met their obligations to declare an emergency when the country was hit by the worst deluges in decades last November and again during the big freeze in recent weeks.