Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. I thank the Minister of State.

I appreciate the Department of Transport is looking at these issues from a cost perspective. There is a long-held view that sometimes costs should be set aside when it comes to our Defence Forces performing this function as it did for many generations. That conversation has passed. Unfortunately, I understand there was work done to evaluate whether it was appropriate to give it back to the Defence Forces. Clearly that conversation was relatively short which I regret. I am of the view that coastguard rescue services should be firmly and completely in the control of the State and not dependent on a private company regardless of its standing and tenure. That is my particular view.

I raise the Road Safety Authority’s recent news about what I will call its viability as it has been running at a loss. It performs a vital function in our State. While it has its critics, and there are the usual suspects who talk about it in a very negative way, it does provide an essential service. Are we to assume that the Road Safety Authority is an organisation which is not expected to turn a profit? If it is an organisation that is not expected to turn a profit on the basis that it provides a vital service, how are those of us who are members of Government parties, for now at least, to sustain the vital services it provides without having these conversations? There are people speaking ill of the authority while its chair is contributing to newspaper articles saying it cannot perform its function unless it is funded appropriately. It is a circular argument that gets us nowhere as a body politic.