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The country’s most senior officials will be enrolled into a new emergency alert system that will quickly gather decision-makers in the event of large-scale emergencies.
The new app, which the Irish Mirror understands was discussed on Wednesday by the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, will be able to send alerts even if the phone is silenced in extremely severe emergencies.
The Government Task Force on Emergency Planning “coordinates and oversees the emergency planning activities of all government departments and public authorities”.
In the case of emergencies being alerted by a government department, the Office of Emergency Planning must convene a meeting of the National Emergency Coordination Group within one hour.
The Government Task Force and National Emergency Coordination Group are made up of all Government departments and various other bodies, such as the Defence Forces, the HSE and An Garda Síochána and others.
Briefing documents from a meeting of the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, seen by the Irish Mirror, confirmed that the Office of Emergency Planning has purchased a new app to “alert and notify relevant persons by email and mobile app notification in relation to the convening” of a Government Task Force or National Emergency Coordination Group in the case of large and widespread issues.
It was advised that this aims to “streamline” the work of the Office of Emergency Planning, “track responses to ensure that notification is received,” and ensure that people can attend these meetings.
The system, called the Blackberry App, will have the ability to send text messages and make automated phone calls.
The briefing document noted: “An important function of the BlackBerry App is that it can send a ‘high’ severity alert and this will bypass all of the silencing settings you have on your phone.
“We only intend on using this in extreme cases where attendance is required in a very short time frame outside of normal working hours.
“The alert will ask the recipient to confirm their attendance in-person, virtually or non-attendance.
“It should be noted that a ‘moderate’ severity alert will be used most frequently, which does not bypass silencing features on your mobile device.”
It comes as mobile phones across the UK are set to blare out a 10-second siren later this year as the British Government gears up for another test of its emergency alert system. It was tested for the first time in 2023.
As reported by the Irish Mirror last year, Ireland’s own public warning system has been delayed.
It was expected to be in place by the end of 2024, but this was then pushed out to December 2025.
Communications Minister Darragh O’Brien confirmed last month that it is intended that procurement of the new system will begin in 2025.
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