COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 08, 2021

QUESTION NO.12

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive if he has a Severe Weather Plan in place for the forthcoming winter season; will he details discussions he has had with outside bodies in the matter and will he make a statement? 

REPLY:

The National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) are in contact with Local Authorities throughout the winter. Met Eireann also contact the Severe Weather Assessment Teams from across the Local Authority Sector during the winter season.

South Dublin County Council's Severe Weather Assessment Team (SWAT) meets in advance of all storms on foot of any Met Eireann Weather Warnings received. The SWAT is made up of senior staff from across the organisation. The purpose of the meeting is to assess the readiness of the council to deal with the upcoming storm and severe weather events and put in place preventative actions as required.

The SWAT Team will hold a pre-winter meeting on 3rd November, this pre-winter meeting occurs annually to plan for the winter season ahead and ensure that preparations are put in place.

South Dublin County Council  has under the Major Emergency Management Framework,  the following plans:

This Rest Centre Plan was recently exercised in a live scenario in Tallaght in September. The Civil Defence, Dublin Fire Brigade, An Garda Siochana, the HSE and South Dublin staff from the MEM section and the Housing and Community Section participated in this exercise. 

The protocols for Severe Weather are contained in the plans, and being actioned upon receipt of weather warnings from Met Éireann, are as follows:

Status Yellow: Be Aware - A general notification email is sent to relevant staff across the organisation- inspections of key infrastructure and equipment carried out by relevant departments.

Status Orange: Be Prepared - Triggers a meeting of the Severe Weather Assessment Team (SWAT) comprised of senior management across all departments, who discuss the issues particular to that weather event and agree the appropriate response/ action from each department.  

Status Red: Take Action - this should be a comparatively rare event and implies that recipients take action to protect themselves and/or their properties. The SWAT team is now a Crisis Management Team and meets as often as necessary - hourly, twice daily, etc., depending on dynamics of the weather event, possibly over the conference call facilities. National and Regional Emergency offices are likely also being updated via teleconference at this stage to facilitate inter agency cooperation between the LA, HSE and AGS.

The 2021-2022 Winter Maintenance Plan has been finalised and will be presented to all the ACM’s by the Road Maintenance Department in November. The Winter Maintenance Plan includes information the 7 gritting routes and also on salt barns, salt bins etc.

The gritting routes and the associated gritting truck can also have a snow plough attached if this is required, information on the routes are available at the link.www.sdcc.ie/

The Eastern Region Emergency Planning Steering and Working Groups are forums that manage Emergency Planning and Management.  These groups meet on a regular basis and are comprised of representatives from An Garda Siochana, HSE, DFB, Defence Forces, Coast Guard, Civil Defence, and the Local Authorities from DCC, SDCC, FCC, DLR, WCC, KCC.  

South Dublin County Council will continue to provide information to citizens through weather events on all available social media including our website (www.sdcc.ie ), facebook and twitter.

The national winter ready web site also has very useful information and can be found at https://www.winterready.ie/en