LAST UPDATE | 31 Jan

THE SECURE COMMUNICATIONS network used by Ireland’s Emergency Services “went down for a period” during Storm Éowyn, according to the HSE’s CEO.

TETRA, which stands for “Terrestrial Trunked Radio”, is the secure radio network used by the likes of Ambulance Services, gardaí, the Coast Guard, and the Civil Defence.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said that the TETRA radio communications system used by the Ambulance Service “went down for a period” during Storm Éowyn.

“That’s now, in the majority, restored and the service is functioning well,” added Gloster.

The Journal has obtained radio traffic from a Coast Guard station struggling to reach islanders off the West Coast during the storm via Tetra.

 Gloster also said all of the HSE’s services have been restored following significant disruptions due to Storm Éowyn.

“There was a lot of concern last weekend,” said Gloster.

“And I know there have been anecdotal stories of concern about people who are absent power and water and heat, and their dependency on electric items for things like home dialysis, for pressure relief in mattresses and so on.

“All of our high dependency patients were contacted pre and post the storm and no adverse events have been reported.

“That’s not to underestimate the difficulty and challenge people are experiencing now where they’re without heat, power, water, and the communications network has affected us all.”

Meanwhile, Gloster said that the HSE already has a “very good major emergency framework” and remarked that it has “worked quite well”.

“Of course, we would always reflect on how things can be done better, particularly for people who experience accentuated levels of vulnerability,” said Gloster, “and they’re the people who we all have to continue to step up to the mark and think about.”

It is understood that An Garda Síochána suffered an outage in various areas across the West and North West of the country. Likewise sources confirmed some fire brigade units also lost Tetra cover. 

The usual fix for an outage would be personal mobile phones but these were unavailable because of power outages. The other issue is that they no longer have analogue services available except in marine units.  

It is understood that more than 180 base locations which broadcast the system were hit. 

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (OGCIO) released a statement confirming the incident. 

“OGCIO had already begun working with Tetra Ireland on the implementation of a contingency plan on Friday 24 January.

“Engineers worked with ESB as soon as it was safe to do so following the storm and 28 sites were identified as High Priority for restoration of service.

“Twenty-five of these sites have now been restored. This means that coverage for critical services, such as fire services, is now within approximately one percent of normal service countrywide,” the statement said. 

The HSE said: “The NAS utilises the national radio infrastructure along with all other emergency services. At no point was service delivery for the NAS impacted by this issue.”

The Irish Prison Service has refused to comment for operational reasons. 

This website has contacted An Garda Síochána regarding the incident also.