Ireland's Be Emergency Ready: the household checklist
Ireland's Office of Emergency Planning sent the Be Emergency Ready booklet to about 2.2 million households from September 2026. It asks each person to have 2 to 3 litres of drinking water per day, plus 10 litres for basic cooking and hygiene. Older official guidance said to store food and water for up to three days.
What this means for your household
Set your household size to see the days, water and food the Ireland advice adds up to.
The current booklet gives a checklist without a day count. Older official guides said up to 3 days.
Drinking water for 2 people. Official figure: 2 to 3 L per person per day.
Person-days of food to cover (2 × 3). Pick food that needs no fridge and little or no cooking.
What the Be Emergency Ready checklist covers
The booklet's checklist covers water, light and heat, medicine and staying connected.
- Water: 2 to 3 L of drinking water per person per day, and 10 L for basic cooking and hygiene
- Light and heat: a torch with spare batteries
- Medicine: the medicines everyone at home relies on
- Staying connected: a battery or wind-up radio
- Important documents in a waterproof bag
- Food that keeps, for everyone in the household
Staying informed in Ireland
- Follow official updates on gov.ie, national and local radio, and RTÉ.
- Met Éireann issues colour-coded weather warnings: yellow, orange and red.
- A battery or wind-up radio keeps you informed if the power, phones or internet go down.
Ireland-specific steps
- Keep the booklet. It came in Irish and English and is also on gov.ie/BeEmergencyReady.
- Make a household plan with the Office of Emergency Planning's 'Make a plan' guide.
- Store bottled water in a cool, dark place, and only until its expiry date.
- Read the 'Loss of utilities' guidance for what to do when power or water is cut.
Go beyond the minimum: what we recommend
Official lists cover the basics. These are the gaps we see most often when an emergency lasts longer than expected.
- Build toward 7 days of water and food, even if the official minimum is 3. Outages often last longer than planned.
- Keep paper and digital copies of IDs, insurance and prescriptions, so you can prove who you are and get medicines.
- Write the expiry date on everything and check the kit every 6 months, so it doesn't quietly go out of date.
- Plan for phone power: a charged power bank, plus a solar panel or car charger for longer outages.
- Save offline maps of your area and agree a meeting point, in case the mobile network is down.
- An offline survival guide on your phone: HAVEN tracks your kit and expiry dates and works with no signal.Download HAVEN free
Numbers to write down
- 112 or 999 · Emergency services
- Met Éireann · Weather warnings
Keep a paper copy: your phone may be flat when you need it.
Your kit, ready when the network isn't
HAVEN turns the Be Emergency Ready checklist into a tracked kit with expiry reminders, and keeps offline guides on your phone for storms and power cuts.
- Coverage in days for your household
- Expiry reminders
- Offline guides and AI
- Free to start, no account needed
How Ireland compares
Ireland: 3 days. Across the 25 governments we checked, most ask for 3 days, a growing group asks for a week, and Austria asks for the most, at 10 to 14 days. See every country's advice.
Ireland preparedness FAQ
How many days of supplies does Ireland recommend?
The 2026 booklet gives a checklist without a day count. Older official guidance said to store food and water for up to three days.
How much water should I store in Ireland?
2 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day, plus 10 litres for basic cooking and hygiene.
What is Be Emergency Ready?
The Irish government's 2026 preparedness campaign. About 2.2 million booklets were delivered to every household from 21 September 2026, in Irish and English.
What's on the Be Emergency Ready checklist?
Water, light and heat, medicine and staying connected, including a torch with spare batteries, a battery or wind-up radio and important documents in a waterproof bag.
How should I store bottled water?
In a cool, dark place, and only until its expiry date.
Official sources
- Be Emergency Ready (gov.ie)
- Be Emergency Ready checklist (PDF)
- Be Emergency Ready booklet, accessible version (PDF)
- Loss of utilities (Office of Emergency Planning)
- Make a plan (Office of Emergency Planning)
This page summarises official advice and is not a substitute for it. Always follow the instructions of your local emergency services. Last checked 2 November 2026.