The government has requested an independent report on the failure of the SIRESP communications system which led to confusion, poor decisions and avoidable deaths in the devastating Pedrógão Grande fires.
The selection of the Telecommunications Institute by Minister for the Interior, Constança Urbano de Sousa, looked all very right and proper until it was pointed out today that this institute is a private body funded by a company that also is a shareholder in SIRESP SA.
Altice (formerly Portugal Telecom), owns 30.55% of SIRESP, SA and also is an associate and funder of the Telecommunications Institute which throws into doubt whether any inquiry truly can be assessed as independent.
In an official communiqué on 26 July, Constança Urbano de Sousa’s ministry stated that it "requires rigorous responses into the operation of SIRESP" in the fire at Pedrógão Grande in which 64 people died.
Constança Urbano de Sousa announced that she had ordered the independent study on the functioning of SIRESP and an audit by the General Inspectorate of Internal Administration of the government department responsible SIRESP, the General Secretariat of Internal Administration.
The Minister decided to award the Telecommunications Institute the job of preparing “an independent study on the operation of SIRESP in general, and in situations of major accident or catastrophe in particular."
This Institute, is a "private, non-profit organisation in the public interest" based on a "partnership between nine institutions with research and development experience in the field of telecommunications."
Among the partners and funders shown on the institute’s website are several university institutions, such as Instituto Superior Técnico, ISCTE, the universities of Aveiro, Beira Interior, Coimbra and Oporto, as well as two major telecommunications companies: Nokia and Altice, the second of which is the second largest shareholder of SIRESP, SA.
