Mr. Eugene Clonan:

Yes. We have dealt with such incidents. Some years ago, soon after the sinking of the tanker Prestigeoff the coast of Spain, the Princess Eva, an 80,000 tonne tanker, was sailing from Murmansk across the Atlantic to Houston, Texas, to offload a cargo of crude oil. It had cracks in its deck. There was an accident off the coast and two crew members were killed. A life raft had broken loose in heavy weather. The captain sent three crew members to secure it, but they were hit by a wave and two of the crew members lost their lives. The tanker anchored in Donegal bay to sort out the problem, repatriate the bodies and get other crew members aboard. Cracks were then found in its deck. Members of the Marine Survey Office went aboard and determined that the ship was not capable of going to sea as it would break up. We had to transfer all of the cargo from the vessel onto another ship and make temporary repairs, which took 40 days. All of the expenses incurred by the State in that operation were recovered from the owner.

Deputy O'Keeffe asked about the coastal unit advisory group, CUAG, as well as the wider coastal unit group, grievances and so on. We greatly value our volunteers and work very closely with them. They are our colleagues. There is no difference between full-time staff and volunteers in how we operate together. Given that we have 1,000 volunteers, it is reasonable to ask how we manage and operate with them. Our Coast Guard code sets out the agreement on how we act and volunteers act for us. Like every organisation which uses volunteers, we require procedures for how we negotiate and operate together. The code of practice is based on best practice. I have spoken to representatives of Concern, Trócaire and other volunteer organisations about their HR procedures and processes and I am satisfied that ours are best in the class. In working with our volunteers the coastal unit advisory group has been in existence for several years. Six officers in charge are elected by volunteers around the coast and their job is to present the views of all units. The six members are selected on a geographical basis and serve for a period of three years. The group is representative of coastal search teams, boat teams and cliff units. It regularly meets the national volunteer servicing manager and the director annually. I attend all of the meetings. Additional meetings may be called by the CUAG or management, as necessary. To date, the structure has proved to be an effective forum for advocating on volunteer issues. It deals with several issues. For example, if we wish to introduce new equipment, we discuss with the CUAG whether that would be acceptable. Ideas for better ways of doing things around the coast can be presented at that forum and worked through. We do not implement new procedures or introduce new equipment for volunteers, of which they are unaware. We negotiate to ensure the changes are palatable and will work.

In addition to the CUAG, there are three meetings held annually in each sector which are attended by all volunteers in that sector. The meetings are a round-table forum at which issues or problems can be presented and talked through. It is like a community hall-type forum, at which everybody gets issues off his or her chest and we can see what we can do, as well as determining where we have fallen down and what we are doing well. In addition, there are six coastal unit sector managers. How many units does each manager have?