A new proposal for an early warning system for tsunamis and other seismic events is being co-ordinated by the Geological Survey of Ireland, a Government agency.
There is currently no warning system in place to alert the State in the event of a major earthquake or tsunami. The Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS) has been recording local and worldwide seismic events since the mid-1970s, but it has described its equipment as "antiquated".
Prof Alan Jones of the DIAS has been calling for improvements in this system for some time. He welcomed the proposal for an early warning system and pointed to several potential threats from tsunamis.
Fears have been raised that a chunk of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Canary Islands could fall into the sea, causing a major tsunami that would reach Ireland in about six hours. This could cause waves up to 15 metres high.
"We really don't know what might happen there," he said. "It's going to go sometime. It could go very, very slowly - and thereby not generate a tsunami - or it might go very fast."
Prof Jones said there was also a threat from sediment build-up in the sea bed on the west coast of Ireland. When this builds up, it can collapse like a giant sandcastle, causing a tsunami wave. Such a wave hit the east coast of Canada in 1929, killing 26 people in Newfoundland.
He also pointed to the earthquake that destroyed Lisbon 250 years ago. It triggered a tsunami that reached our western coastline within four hours, and is thought to have generated waves of up to 12 metres high.
Prof Jones said an earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale that occurred off the coast of Wales in 1984 was even more relevant to the Irish experience as it caused structural damage along the east coast of Ireland.
And just last December, an earthquake measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale was reported off Wicklow Head. If it had been as big as the Welsh event, it would have had "very serious consequences for all those along the east coast, particularly in Dublin", Prof Jones said.
A spokeswoman for the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) said tsunamis were "a low-probability risk for Ireland, but nevertheless one that should not be ignored".
"Following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, countries across the globe are considering appropriate warning systems and Ireland is no exception," she said.
"Unesco [the United Nations' educational, scientific and cultural organisation] has recently decided to establish a tsunami early warning system in the northeast Atlantic and, in developing its system, Ireland would seek to be part of this," the spokeswoman said.
Unesco aims to have "a complete plan of action" by December of this year and hopes that its early warning system will be operating by December 2007.
The GSI spokeswoman said it was too early to say how much this would cost.
