Following consideration of a memorandum dated the 2nd May, 1953,¹ submitted by the Taoiseach, approval was given to the proposal that, with a view to providing the necessary material for the compilation of a ‘War Book’, instructions should be issued to each Department and important branch of administration for the preparation and forwarding to the Department of the Taoiseach, within a period of, say, three months, of precise and detailed statements setting out the various steps that should be taken by it at each of the five stages, indicated in the memorandum, of the planning for any future emergency.