“You have to eat, even in the midst of a nuclear war.” So begins a section on Food and Water in a 1965 Irish booklet on how to survive a nuclear attack.
Distributed to 700,000 homes in May that year, Cosaint Shibhialta Bás Beatha – Survival in a Nuclear War – warns that “nuclear weapons have added a new and deadly peril to war, RADIOACTIVE FALL-OUT”, and how “it can affect every home and every farm in the country”.
In the aftermath of the perilous Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and its threat of nuclear war, Ireland and neighbouring European countries were quite rightly rattled.
“Fall-out is unique in the way it can affect any part of the country no matter how remote, even if we are not otherwise affected by war,” continues the free booklet signed off by the minister for defence Gerald Bartley. “But we cannot assume that nuclear weapons will not, in a future war, be exploded on our country either accidentally or deliberately.”
People were encouraged to have “enough food to last the whole household, and possibly one or two extra people, for at least 14 days”, and to ensure “10 gallons of stored water for every person you expect in your refuge room”. Food should be covered “so that radioactive dust cannot reach it”.
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Suggestions for emergency food stock included tinned meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, dehydrated foods, raisins, and instant coffee.
The handout is now viewed as something of an asinine relic – a throwback to more innocent times when wiping radioactive dust off the lid of tinned food with a damp tea towel before opening could somehow be enough to keep danger at bay.
And yet, here we are 60 years later, with the European Union advising people to stockpile 72 hours of food, water and medicine, under a cloud of trepidation around trade wars, cyberattacks, geopolitical power moves, and human-induced and natural disasters.
“New realities require a new level of preparedness,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned in March, as the EU published its first Preparedness Strategy.
The EU’s advice follows a number of Nordic countries who late last year issued pamphlets advising citizens on “emergency preparedness”, with an emphasis on Russia’s continued war on Ukraine. Finland, Norway and Sweden issued fresh advice on how to “prepare for incidents and crises”, with Swedish citizens receiving a 32-page pamphlet on how to seek shelter, what food to stock up on, and how to stay in communication with loved ones.
“We live in uncertain times. Armed conflicts are currently being waged in our corner of the world,” the booklet, addressed to all Swedish residents, begins. “Terrorism, cyber attacks, and disinformation campaigns are being used to undermine and influence us.”
Germany is developing a geolocation app guiding people to their nearest bunker or emergency shelter, while France is currently preparing to send a 20-page survival manual to all households.
For a growing group of men and women around Ireland, however, stockpiling supplies and preparing for global threats that could wipe out everything from communication links to food access is already a given.
Among this group, there are two distinct skill sets: “prepping”, where months of food, water, and medical supplies are stockpiled, and two-way radios tuned and ready for maritime, aviation and first-responder communications; and “survivalists” who can hunt, gather and live comfortably off grid and without any creature comforts.
Roland Wolf (55), who works in customer relations in Co Cork, moved to Ireland 14 years ago from Ansbach, Bavaria. He brought with him survival skills passed down from his grandmother, who would stockpile food, and memories of the underground air-raid shelter at his childhood school.
“I don’t see prepping as fear-driven or paranoid – it’s a practical and responsible way of life,” he says. “For me, it’s about being ready for whatever challenges might arise, whether they’re natural disasters, societal breakdowns or personal setbacks.
“My approach is shaped by my past – growing up with financial instability and overcoming hardships taught me the value of being prepared. I don’t believe in hoarding or living in fear, but in thoughtful, strategic self-sufficiency. I want to have the tools, knowledge and plans in place to protect myself and those I care about.”
He has a year’s worth of food – refried and dehydrated rice and beans – buried one metre underground in woodland. He keeps the co-ordinates secret. He also has water, a wood stove and even electric bikes with a battery charger, solar panels and inverters so he has a means of transport in an emergency. He is a skilled archer from his days in Germany, and is comfortable building fires and shelters outdoors.
“I’m fully aware that the world is fragile and constantly shifting,” he says. “I don’t prepare out of doom, but out of hope – hope that being ready means preserving freedom, love and meaning, no matter what the future holds. I see prepping as a social responsibility.
“This matters to me because it gives me a sense of control in a world that so often feels out of control. I’ve lived through hardship. I know what it means to be caught off guard, to be left to figure things out on my own. That’s why I prepare – not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. I don’t want to rely on luck or empty promises. I want to be ready because I’ve learned that life doesn’t always give you time to catch up.
“Prepping, to me, is an extension of how I care. It’s how I protect those I love and how I honour my own values. I don’t just want to survive, I want to hold on to who I am, no matter what happens. That means staying kind, staying human and being in a position where I can help others if the time comes.”
[ ‘Squirrel’s quite nice ... fox tastes awful’ – Learning to survive in the wildOpens in new window ]
Two recent events – the Covid-19 pandemic and Storm Éowyn – have seen a surge in people reaching out to Shayne Phelan, a 52-year-old bushcraft expert and survivalist, who runs the Eagle Ridge Survival School in Wicklow.
The demographic of his students has changed since he held his first class ahead of Y2K, the computer bug or data outage anticipated by many ahead of the year 2000. Then, he recalls, his class filled with “Rambo-esque” men dressed in camouflage and carrying big knives. His classes in recent weeks are a 50-50 split between men and women who simply want to know how to survive when the electricity goes for a number of days.
“It’s a lifestyle for me, and I teach people how to survive in the wilderness, or in the woods, or in a landscape that provides very few resources unless you know what you are looking for,” he says.
Few of us wonder if filling baths would provide enough water in a doomsday scenario, or how many tins of tuna might be needed to stave off hunger
“This EU directive is not really about survival, but about having an element of preparation in your home for 72 hours. That’s not an arbitrary figure, because we know from statistics gathered internationally that survival scenarios are usually brought to a conclusion after 72 hours.
“We have this thing in survival called the rule of three. We can survive for three hours without shelter pretty much no matter where we are on this planet. Then we need some form of shelter depending on where you are, to either keep us cool or keep us warm.
“The second is three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, and three weeks without food. So we can see that food is not really so important. Then I add one to my own teaching because it’s quite cerebral. It’s not like Bear Grylls getting people to jump off cliffs or drink their own urine. My rule is we can only survive for three seconds without thinking, because survival is a thinking game.”
While few of us wonder if filling baths would provide enough water in a doomsday scenario, or how many tins of tuna might be needed to stave off hunger, there is a community of people who are ready for anything. They already know where a bunker is located and what codes, keys or passwords are needed to shelter them and their family if a global emergency threatens humankind.
Frank Deegan, from Co Kilkenny, is a cofounder of the Irish Survivalist Group, which formed in 2012. He has been prepping since his merchant navy days. He now works as an engineer for a telecommunications company, and has access to two bunkers in a worst-case scenario.
“There’s a group of us, and one of our plans is to meet there when we need to. We’ve on-site food preparation there as well,” he says.
“A second bunker belongs to one of the guys in our club, and he has offered that to a few of us. We have key cards to swipe at the electronic entrance into it and that’s based around Mullingar, and I have his written plans for that in my safe if things go to s**t.”
Those plans include instructions on what frequencies on the radio to use to make contact, essential equipment to bring to the bunker, and the amount of people allowed to accompany him.
“Let’s say we are told on the radio now that a nuclear bomb has been detonated in France or England,” says Deegan.
“Your phone will be gone but I’ve two ham radios here that I can tune into to find out what to do next. The first bunker only holds 10 or 15 people, but the second bunker I know takes 150 people, and it has its own water source. If I showed you where it was, you would never have thought it was there, because it neatly blends in with its surroundings.”
His knowledge of food stockpiling is impressive. For example, eggs will stay fresh “forever” if stored in Vaseline, and raw chicken chopped and put into a jar that is steam sealed will create juices that preserve the meat which can be cooked and enjoyed at a later date.
Thes practices have already been tried, tested, and given the thumbs up by Deegan and his group pals. To survive in the great outdoors, he says, all that is needed is a tarp, an axe or knife, and a bottle of water.
“You’d eat rabbits or pheasants. You do a lot of fishing, or even eat roadkill,” he says.
“I was driving in Wicklow a year ago and a guy went over a pheasant with his car. I jumped out, and the pheasant, which was dead, hadn’t been squashed, so I put him in the van, hung him up for a few days and then we ate him. And he was grand, there was nothing wrong with him. My wife is on board with what I do and she helps me dehydrate food, which is where we take water out of fruit and put it into jars so they last for longer.”
Deegan also asks the right questions to help you realise you’re on the back foot if a global disaster strikes.
“What do you have in your house if the electricity goes off in the morning? Can you cook your own dinner? Why can’t you? The reason is because you’ve never thought about it. But you should.”
