Mr. Diarmuid Ó Conghaile:

One of the things we should remind ourselves of is that search and rescue operations are different from other aspects of civil aviation. The AAIU report highlighted that aspect and generated several recommendations to improve the safety performance and the regulatory safety oversight of SAR. We give search and rescue operations several exemptions. One of those includes exemptions from minima that would generally apply to civil aviation. That is because if a search and rescue flight is winching someone out of the sea or conducting another aspect of a rescue operation, then it will be likely that it will be necessary to deviate from the rules of the air. We explicitly give the SAR operator exemptions from the rules of the air.

Returning to the matter of the charts, the chart generated by the State, as with almost everything we do in regulation, is determined by the ICAO. We fulfil that production requirement for those charts. They are VFR charts. As I said, we are in discussions with the sector and we seek to help those involved in the sector. If they ask us to chart these additional features on a particular approach route, then we will do that. Generally speaking, flights are not flying at low altitudes in these areas and the VFR charts we produce specify a minimum safe altitude for the use of those charts. It is important, therefore, not to ask that the charts do more than they are designed to do.