Mr. Eugene Clonan:

Did I go through all of the funding and resourcing issues? Deputy Catherine Murphy spoke of search and rescue and costs, and, in particular, a comparison of costs between us and the UK. We do not charge for search and rescue. That is our ethos and that is the ethos throughout the world. In years gone by when we had no helicopter service the UK Coastguard used to provide that service.

As it did not have helicopters, the RAF and Royal Navy bases on the west coast of the United Kingdom provided the service. Today we have a helicopter search and rescue service. The RNLI does not charge us for providing a service. The Irish Coast Guard units are funded by the State. If we send a helicopter into Northern Ireland, possibly up hills, as often requested by the marine rescue co-ordination centre in Belfast, we do not charge for the service. In the case of a pollution incident, the principle is that the polluter pays. If there is a pollution incident involving a ship casualty or which requires us to hire tugs or salvage firms, we recover the cost of the operation from the ship owner.