Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, it is a pity that the witnesses are all appearing here this morning via virtual link. I understand that is an option afforded to the witnesses, but a lot of what we will hear about today is about the geographic, and indeed, the operational disconnect that people feel there is with the Irish Coast Guard.

The Irish Coast Guard is headquartered on Leeson Lane, Dublin 2. That is a long way from Doolin, Kilkee, Valentia and the various other Coast Guard stations, and therein lies one of the problems. There is a disconnect. It would be far more helpful if the witnesses had been here this morning. In this very room yesterday, we had representatives from the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society sitting here. Given that Leinster House is located only around the corner from the headquarters of the Irish Coast Guard, it would have been significant if the witnesses had appeared in person.

One of the main matters I wish to focus on this morning relates to the Doolin Coast Guard station, which, regrettably, is closed at the moment. There are two issues at hand, in respect of one of which we are hopefully on a pathway towards some resolution. I refer to the internal personnel and HR issues. I was delighted to see Kieran Mulvey appointed as mediator. Several of the members here would have been looking for that. Last week, I met with the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. I am glad to hear that mediation will begin on Monday next at 6 p.m. I encourage all volunteers who are active or have left to engage with the process. Mr. Mulvey is skilled and competent and he has a track record of unlocking very difficult impasse situations. I hope that he can made inroads on that issue.

There is another personnel issue, not just within the station but also between it and headquarters in Dublin. I want to address that for a moment. Recently, the Irish Coast Guard Volunteers Representative Association, ICGVRA, was established. It is headed up by a man named John O'Mahony with whom I have been in regular contact over the past few days. This organisation has been set up for many reasons. One of those reasons is that "Irish Coast Guard members are afraid to raise issues in coast guard units, or with management, for fear of retribution by way of disciplinary action". That is very worrying. Much of the media focus and public discourse has focused on what could be an internal problem at Doolin Coast Guard station, which, I believe, will be ironed out. However, the quote I just read into the record signifies that there are far deeper problems and that these run on a vertical axis from headquarters right down not just to Doolin station but to all the spokes of the wheel, namely, all stations. I have heard repeatedly over the past week that there are not just problems in Doolin, rather, there are problems in each Coast Guard station.

There are two things I wish to hear from Ms O'Keeffe and her team this morning. First, will she immediately recognise and engage with the ICGVRA? The latter has levelled some serious allegations and concerns. We need to recognise that organisation, bring it into the fold and engage with it. The Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, has agreed to meet with individuals, but I am of the view that this representative organisation needs to be recognised today and met as a matter or urgency. From what I have been hearing over the past week - and this is not personal, this is the organisation we are talking about - there appears to be some form of organisational rot at play. I propose to the committee that there be an independent and urgent inquiry into how that vertical axis from Irish Coast Guard management down to stations works, and that we also look at the failures of the Department of Transport. There are a number of background contexts to this, namely: the Rescue 116 report, which we debated in the Dáil Chamber last night; there is the issue relating to Doolin; and there are issues at Coast Guard stations throughout the country. The committee needs to agree to seek an independent inquiry into these issues and how the organisation functions.

Ms O'Keeffe referred to measures the Irish Coast Guard is taking to transform the structures and the stations throughout the country. She stated: "While the programme will provide a better and safer service for all concerned as it rolls out, the roll-out of the programme itself, like any organisational change programme, provides some challenges, both for those involved in rolling it out and those affected by it." I wish to highlight a few ways that this is manifesting itself at local level. In Doolin station, there have been resignations in the past three weeks. Those involved are not people who took resigning lightly. They are highly valued, highly skilled individually. Collectively, there is more than 170 years of experience at that station. Some of the competencies they have always fulfilled have been diluted in recent weeks. Some of them are now scratching their heads wondering what is the point of the unit existing and what is the point of serving there in light of some of the competencies that headquarters has taken from them. They can no longer use the reinforced steel girder in their station that they previously used for climbing training. They used to attach ropes to it and use it as a climbing and descending mechanism. They can no longer use a bolting system when they climb in the Burren. That has also been taken from them. Some part of the Cliffs of Moher are out of bounds - and I could not believe this when I heard it a week ago - they cannot go near them. They can no longer scale cliff sections while tethered to the rescue jeep. Most alarmingly, the Kilkee lifeboat cannot launch beyond the bay area. This appears to be on foot of a decision taken by the Irish Coast Guard directly in response to the tragic death of Caitríona Lucas in 2016. That manifested itself locally last summer when two young people who went out swimming went missing in the water and the Coast Guard unit could not leave the bay area. It fell to local fishermen and boaters to go out beyond the bay area in their vessels to look for them. That is ineptitude, not on the part of the volunteers but on the part of the management, which took these competencies and skills that the volunteers have been able to fulfil-----