Terrorist threat – Uncertainty offers little reassurance

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern recently declared that this country was unlikely to be a target of a major terrorist strike, a sentiment which possibly did not give comfort to everybody.

Unfortunately, the country's firefighters are not as sanguine as Mr Ahern, and are less than reassuring in their assessment as to how the country would cope with a Madrid-type attack. Quite simply, the country could not cope.

The Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) and the National Firefighters Committee (NFC) are worried about the readiness of the fire service to respond to a major disaster because their emergency response planning is in a "parlous state".