An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-29 ============================================================ Martin Conway (IND), Administrative Panel This day last week when the Leas-Chathaoirleach was in the Chair, and prior to Christmas, I called for a debate on extreme weather and our response to it. I am disappointed and sad to say that I am making the same call again, not because the debate has not been organised, but because we have had extreme weather since this day last week, which I do not think any of us expected. We need to review the protocols that exist between the national emergency co-ordination group, local authorities, Met Éireann, the various voluntary organisations, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and so on. We also need to examine the communications methods and the timing of communications. As Members of the Oireachtas and leaders in our various communities, we need to be up to standard and up to scratch when it comes to this. We need to have more granular detail on what is expected. I note the comments of the Minister, Deputy Browne, on Met Éireann. I do not know who is right or wrong in this regard and do not believe anyone does; however, if we had more information on the protocols and processes involved, we would be better informed and better able to show the type of leadership expected of us by our communities. In 2014, when a mini tsunami destroyed the promenade in Lahinch in my county, did damage at Salthill in the Leader's constituency and badly affected Connemara, the response of the OPW and local authorities was very good, to be fair. At the time, we got €17 million. The product in Lahinch now compared with that before 2014 is much advanced. I wish the people of Wexford well. I hope they get the supports they need. I have no doubt they will. We have work to do. Statements or a debate on this in the next few weeks would be welcome. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-29