'Most modern system available' for Ireland's public warnings is text alerts, planning group says

Communications minister Patrick O’Donovan has said previously that SMS warnings are of “limited effectiveness” during an emergency because of network capacity, congestion and character limits. File picture

A text alert framework for Ireland will be “the most modern system available”, the head of the emergency planning group has said.

The Department of Defence and its Office of Emergency Planning are to oversee the system, which would warn the public by sending a text to mobile phones in the event of a major emergency or disaster. Such systems are already in place in many countries to warn of extreme weather events.

During an appearance before an Oireachtas committee on Thursday, the head of the Office of Emergency Planning Kealan McMoreland said the procurement of such a system for Ireland was underway.

Asked whether the system would be localised and 32-county wide, he said it would be “wrong to pre-empt” the tender, but added that it would be “the most modern system that is available for purchase by the State”.

He said the Department of Culture and Communications and Sport had established an expert group to look at developing a tender for what is going to be called “IE Alert” and the Office of Emergency Planning and the Department of Taoiseach are both “feeding into” that process.

“The decision has been made that the Office of Emergency Planning and Department of Defence will be responsible for the system when it becomes active,” he said.

The Department of Communications is to procure a Cell Broadcast Public Warning System (CB-PWS) for transmitting public warning messages under the IE Alert system.

Communications minister Patrick O’Donovan has said previously that SMS warnings are of “limited effectiveness” during an emergency because of network capacity, congestion and character limits.

He said the CB-PWS would also allow alerts to be sent to mobile phone users “in a specific geographic area”, suggesting the system will be able to issue alerts locally.

He also said he expected procurement of the CB-PWS to begin this year, and would add to existing emergency communications — such as TV, radio and social media — rather than replace them.

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In November 2023, Ireland put in place a mobile phone-based emergency public warning text system, as required as part of an EU directive, which allowed mobile phone operators to send texts to the public on behalf of the Government during an emergency.

The government had intended to introduce a national public warning system by the end of 2024, but was delayed as advisory services were sought and recommendations drafted by department officials.

The Department of Communications said it had spent €200,832 in the past two years on external consultancy in relation to “the specification, implementation, testing, management, and maintenance” of a national public warning system.