What happens in case of an emergency

During a nuclear or radiological emergency exposure from an incident abroad, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) will take the lead. DCEE will decide whether the National Plan should be invoked in such an emergency and if the National Emergency Coordination Group (NECG) should be convened.

This decision will be based on the assessment of the scale of the emergency exposure and its potential threat to Ireland. DCEE will work with a number of other organisations, like other government departments, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), local authorities, the HSE, Met Éireann and others.

Ireland is situated more than 200 kilometres from the nearest nuclear power plant (on the west coast of the UK), and there are no scenarios envisaged whereby a national shutdown would be required. Therefore, protective actions, such as sheltering, evacuation or consumption of iodine tablets would not be necessary.

However, it is possible that temporary protective measures such as food controls may be needed depending upon factors such as weather conditions (particularly wind direction) at the time of the incident.

The biggest potential public health threat following an emergency would come from radioactive contamination of farming produce, particularly from leafy vegetables, meat and dairy products. If necessary, controls and restrictions would be put in place to protect the public from contaminated food. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine along with the EPA and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) would ensure that all foods available for sale are safe.

Monitoring would continue for weeks, months, or longer if necessary. Updates on the event would be made available to the public and media.

Further information on radiation monitoring in Ireland can be found at the following link: https://www.epa.ie/our-services/monitoring--assessment/radiation/radiation-monitoring/