Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Clonan and his comrades. I wish him good luck in his term as interim director.

I also wish to be associated with the words of sympathy over the loss of lives in recent years. It is good that people can get up the following morning and continue to go to work in such circumstances. The Coast Guard is recognised as the fourth blue light emergency response service in the country. When we see the work it does, it must be near the top of the plinth.

As Mr. Clonan mentioned, the Coast Guard is dependent on the volunteers from the RNLI and the volunteers who operate under the coastal unit advisory group, CUAG.

Do the witnesses have a good working relationship with the volunteers, especially from CUAG? Do issues arise in the organisation that have not been addressed? Have the volunteers raised concerns with the Coast Guard that have not been addressed? I cannot point to anything specific, given where we are, but have issues of malpractice been raised? I am interested to hear whether there are outstanding issues. Is it the case that the Coast Guard is not recognised as a special operations agency?