The Minister for Defence said that he had requested a review of the State's security measures in the aftermath of the Madrid atrocity.
Mr Smith said that planning for major accidents and emergencies had been ongoing for many years at local level and co-ordinated on a regional basis, in accordance with the Government's major emergency planning framework.
"As chairperson of the task force, I requested all authorities to review their emergency plans and revise them as appropriate. This has led to a thorough examination and evaluation of emergency plans to ensure that arrangements are current and effective," he said.
He added that the focus of that work continued to be on taking the necessary precautions to, at best prevent, or at least minimise, the risks from terrorist activities. This was to ensure that the protection available to the people was maximised, putting mec-hanisms in place to support the response agencies and providing co-ordination for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
"A critical issue in an emergency is issuing adequate and timely warnings and providing the necessary information to the general public on threatened or developing emergency situations," Mr Smith said.
"Television and radio broadcasting will be the key means of contact with the public in such circumstances, but all other means of communication will also be used."
He recalled that the office of emergency planning was established following a government decision in October 2001. "The office continues to work with Departments and other public authorities in order to ensure the best possible use of resources and compatibility between different planning requirements," he said.
The Fine Gael spokesman on defence, Mr Dinny McGinley, said the State's approach to security and defence was fragmented. "For example, two committees deal with this, the National Security Committee dealing with assessment or review of threats, and the task force the Minister mentioned."
The Labour spokesman on defence, Mr Joe Sherlock, said that, without wishing to create alarm, the Madrid bombings showed that no area of Europe was without risk.
Mr Smith said he would be delighted to be able to inform the House that the State could counter every circumstance.
"In the past, attacks of this kind were, by and large, predicated on the basis that the people pressing the button would escape with their lives, whereas now we are dealing with suicide bombers.
"This pushes the limits of security endeavour to extremes with which it never before had to cope.
"However, we are trying to ensure intelligence is shared, terrorist cells are broken up and the people involved are caught before heading to their destination to carry out these crimes. This is a big task for the international community".
