Mr. Chris Reynolds:

The Irish Coast Guard management has great pride in what the Coast Guard service does when one looks at where we came from. I have been in the service for 16 years, as has Mr. Eugene Clonan and Mr. Gerry Smullen. We came from an organisation where we had volunteers running around in P&T suits, with no vehicles or proper boats. The UK service was rescuing our people.

We now have an efficient and effective Coast Guard. Running the Coast Guard is like running a marathon with no finish line. We are always trying to improve.

One aspect of this is changing our communication structure from an analogue regionalised structure to a digital national structure. As Mr. Mullen stated, we have completed a refit of the Dublin base, installed the integrated communications system, ICS, in Malin and are in the process of installing the kit in Valentia over the next several weeks. That installation will be completed by the end of the year. It then will have to be stood down for a short period to set up the operations room and improve living conditions before it goes back live. The equipment in storage is located at the Coast Guard stores in Blanchardstown. There is no issue about the warranty as it was extended free of charge. The final node of the communications system will be installed in Valentia shortly. By December, the actual system will be running with the lights on. That will bring us into Christmas. We would not want to shut Valentia down then as it would be unfair to bring the staff to Dublin over the Christmas and new year break. It will be shut down temporarily after Christmas to swap over the facility the same as was done in Malin.

Successive Governments have been supportive of the Coast Guard and we have been able to resource volunteers well. When I joined, we were climbing on unsafe ropes. Now we have designed a cliff rescue system that is being copied around the world. There were issues about the boats the service used. We now have harmonised the use of boats and vehicles. However, we are still moving ahead to improve the resourcing of the volunteers. The relationship with volunteers is not the same as that with a full-time staff. It is not a vertical type of relationship but a horizontal and bilateral one. We are rightfully proud that we have what I consider the best volunteer service in the world. I do not say that lightly. What our guys give in 21 day searches is incredible. I have seen photos on Facebook of volunteers getting married in their Coast Guard uniform. There are also occasions of a volunteer figure on a birthday cake or a funeral in which the volunteer is buried in uniform.

A question was raised about Valentia co-ordinating the Air India investigation. Valentia was very important in that operation and it had a major role in ship-to-shore communications. I was actually out there as on-scene co-ordinator as I happened to be arresting a Spanish fishing vessel when the plane blew up close to us. Valentia did the ship-to-shore communications for that incident but the marine rescue co-ordination centre, MRCC, was based in Shannon. While Valentia had an important part, it was not the base for the search and rescue co-ordination. That passed to Malin and Valentia between 2001 and 2002. Prior to that, they were ship-to-shore communications units which the MRCC used to relay information. They were obviously a great source of knowledge and expertise as well.