National emergency exercise estimates six-month repair time for gas line from Britain

A boat laying a gas pipe on the sea bed. A table top exercise of a “major disruption” to Ireland’s gas supplies from Britain identified potential for 'rolling blackouts' File picture

A table top exercise of a “major disruption” to Ireland’s gas supplies from Britain identified that large gas users in pharmaceutical and agricultural industries would be hit first, with potentially “rolling blackouts” across areas.

The exercise, dubbed Operation Cathal, which took place last December, estimated it would take six months to repair the damage to the pipeline.

A separate exercise, Operation Puca, which was conducted last February, tested a hypothetical situation where Ireland was hit by a hybrid attack on its data cables, resulting in a “total loss of internet connectivity” on the island and its impact to society and the economy.

Departments are doing a review on the resilience of their sectors and a post-exercise report on Operation Puca is expected to recommend changes from a security perspective.

These two exercises were led by the department of environment, climate, and communications but included all relevant departments and agencies.

They are among a number of exercises coordinated by the national emergency coordination group (NECG), which is part of the office of emergency Planning (OEP), imbedded in the department of defence.

While most of the incidents involving the NECG relate to severe weather incidents, it has also conducted exercises on a national cyber security incident, a radiological incident and a large transportation exercise.

In cases of emergencies the group operates from a dedicated, secure office, the national emergency coordination centre (NECC), based on a floor of the department of agriculture, adjacent to both Leinster House and Merrion Square.

Senior officials from all the relevant departments, and sometimes ministers, attend the meetings, which are chaired by the “lead” department. During Storm Éowyn, the department of housing and local government chaired the meetings.

OEP head Kealan McMoreland said the NECC is ready to be operational within an hour after a national crisis has been declared.

He said the resilience of the office is secured by having a back up generator, and a back up to that generator if power is lost.

Mr McMoreland said the NECC provides a “whole of government” response to an emergency and that its primary aim is to “remove bottlenecks” to key responders — such as gardaí, local authorities or the HSE — on the ground and support them.

He said the NECC is guided by the National Risk Assessment, which is conducted every three years, adding that threats to sub-sea infrastructure — such as gas pipelines, electricity interconnectors and data cables — was added in 2023.