Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the guests to speak about what happened in Doolin. I am interested in understanding how we arrived at that position. I am not doing so to apportion blame but to try to understand if there are learnings from what happened so that it is not repeated elsewhere.

I want to understand the relationship and engagement between volunteers and the Irish Coast Guard. How does the Coast Guard manage to maintain an understanding of where these volunteers are at? How is that engagement worked out?

I also raise some wider issues on the size of the Irish Coast Guard versus a coast guard of a similar jurisdiction, with a similar land mass, similar seas to be covered, a similar population, etc.? The witnesses spoke about numbers being around 83 permanent staff. That seems a small number to me, although I appreciate that other agencies are involved. Are we trying to operate on a shoestring? Should we invest more and have much greater engagement with volunteers? There are 900-odd volunteers, which is a large number. Are we investing enough or are we stretching ourselves too thinly? If so, does that lead to some of the issues that have arisen?