Mr. Eugene Clonan:

If I might take that question along with some of the others already asked, funding for the Coast Guard has increased in recent years from €66 million to €77 million in 2019. We were formed in 1991. Recalling recent history, in 2008, and during the fiscal crisis, we were one of the only divisions within the Department that maintained our expenditure and our budgets throughout that period. They were not cut at all. Staff numbers also increased.

During the fiscal crisis, there was a high staff turnover in our rescue co-ordination centres because people were nearing retirement. We recruited throughout that period. We have always, therefore, been very positively supported by the Department in respect of funding and staff replacements. In our building programme, the complexity of planning and the required interactions with the planning authorities can be imagined. We normally, therefore, have two to three building projects, one slightly ahead of another, stepped to try to get the programme going. We have built 16 station houses in recent years.