Gormley defends handling of cold weather crisis

THERE was “no unnecessary delay” by Government in responding to the recent weather crisis, Environment Minister John Gormley has insisted.

The Government was heavily criticised during the crisis because it did not convene its emergency response committee until early January — almost three weeks after the cold spell had begun.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was also criticised because he remained on holiday in Malta for most of the week when the weather was at its worst.

The Government’s handling of the issue was attacked by Fine Gael in the Dáil last night. FG Environment spokesman Phil Hogan said the Government’s response to the crisis had been far too slow.

Mr Gormley acknowledged the cold weather had begun on December 17 — some three weeks before the Taoiseach asked him on January 7 to lead the response through the National Emergency Response Co-ordination Committee.

But the minister insisted that this did not constitute an unnecessary delay.

“From the second half of December, staff from both the Departments of the Environment and Transport were liaising with local authorities and the National Roads Authority and monitoring the ongoing situation,” he said.

“Local authorities successfully responded to the severe weather demands up to the end of the year.

“It was when the period of severe weather was prolonged and the possibility of a shortage of salt for the roads emerged, that the need for the National Emergency Response Co-ordination Committee arose.

“I convened the committee at the request of the Taoiseach in the first week of this month — before the position became acute and the need for convening the committee arose.”

The minister acknowledged the criticism about the extent of road gritting throughout the crisis, but said the lack of rock salt had “dictated that treatment was restricted” to national roads.

“The local authorities did keep the national roads, other key strategic roads and public transport routes, together totalling some 14,000 kilometres, open for traffic over the 24 days that the severe weather lasted,” he said.

He said it would “never be practical” to grit all 96,000 kilometres of the public road network.

“At the moment we grit over 14% of that network and it is unlikely to be justifiable to increase this substantially.”

Nonetheless, the minister said the Department of Transport would “reexamine” the priorities for gritting of roads as part of an overall review of the response to the weather crisis.