Mr. David Goddard:

Just recently there has been a strategic review of all search and rescue operations on land in the North. The final report is due for publication in the next few weeks. This was brought about by devolution. The responsibilities for search and rescue in the North are now the responsibility of the Executive. The authorities are trying to sort all that out.

Mountain rescue has been slightly separate. It came under the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure from a sporting context. Our funding stream came through that. Traditionally, we received £75,000 per year, of which 50% was taken off for administration. Therefore, the two mountain rescue teams, in the South and North, and cave rescue, which has not been mentioned, received £40,000 per year. We also had sporadic access to some sort of capital funding. The outcome of the strategic review is that the lead Department will become the Department of Justice. This is leading us into closer alignment with the PSNI. We are seen as an asset of the PSNI in the same way as Mountain Rescue Ireland is regarded as an asset by the Garda.

Several other organisations have been mentioned. An aspect we must consider when we talk about missing persons and injured people is the possibility of a crime scene. One must have a very close relationship with the policing forces to enable one to operate at that sort of level. The required trust must exist. The mountain rescue service has built that trust up over the years such that the Garda and PSNI are willing to allow us to take part in a search. On the other hand, organisations that do not have crime scene training are a bit reluctant to get involved.

The problem is very much approaching bursting point. The number of calls has doubled over the past ten years, not because people are engaging in more dangerous activities but simply because the number of participants has been increasing. Therefore, we are getting more calls to mountain areas. We are also getting calls from the Garda, the HSE and ambulance services to assist in remote-area evacuations and recoveries because these organisations do not have the specialist equipment to carry people over rough terrain. We are called because the services are being put under pressure. If anything goes wrong, they are put under the spotlight so they have to ensure that they use the best-available resources in the circumstances. We are now getting calls from many mountain bikers because mountain bike trails have been opened. Many mountain bike accidents are occurring. We have to deal with these because we are the only people with the required stretchers, ropes, etc., to get the bikers out of very rough terrain. One cannot expect a HSE ambulance to carry somebody down a steep hill; one needs specialist equipment. We are the only ones who have it.