John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Goddard is painting an amazing picture and a very honourable one. I assume that it presents many obstacles for him. Before concluding, I would like to ask a few questions. I was seeking figures for hoax calls to the emergency services last year, including the ambulance and fire brigade services. I was stunned by the figures. Does Mr. Christie's organisation receive many hoax calls? The nature of his work is that he has to respond, so are there many hoax calls? If so, has anyone been prosecuted? I could not find any record of anyone being prosecuted for hoax calls to the various emergency services.

As regards recruitment, Mr. Goddard said he would lose a day's pay if he was on a call-out and he had to buy his own equipment. Does that effectively mean that people approach the organisation or are people actively recruited? It seems to me that only fairly well-off people could buy their own equipment. People in certain jobs would not be able to do mountain rescue work, so it seems to be very restrictive.

Is there a limit on the length of time people spend in mountain rescue work? Is there a retirement age or, if not, how does that work out?

Charity status was mentioned earlier on. Of what benefit is charity status? My understanding of charity is that if people make donations they get some tax rebate. Has the mountain rescue service raised money in that way and is the charity status of benefit in any other way besides that?