Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

A Minister of State, Deputy John McGuinness, recently called for 8,000 redundancies in the public service and many can be taken from the Department responsible for the marine. They should start at the top. In 2003, Deputy Dermot Ahern was Minister responsible for the marine and he said on 17 July of that year that he would close Dublin Coast Guard station and expand those at Valentia and Malin. On 21 October 2003, the Minister announced in the Oireachtas the closure of Dublin coastal radio station and the expansion of both Valentia and Malin coastal radio stations.

In the intervening five years, the Civil Service has set about undermining this announcement by the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, in several ways. We have heard about the Fearon report but there is no such thing. It is an amalgamation of statements, assumptions and assertions from Kirwan, Livingstone and Mullen. It is a prime example of what the Minister of State, Deputy McGuinness, was talking about — the Civil Service telling the Minister what to do, the tail wagging the dog.

I have no ill-will towards the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey. From studying the available facts, including times and dates from the past five years, it seems civil servants have made themselves the judges of their own case and cause.

In 2003, the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, stated in the Dáil that the station in Dublin would be closed and those in Malin and Valentia would be expanded. Since then the civil servants have set out to scupper that announcement. If senior civil servants manage to get their equipment installed in Dublin, they will have succeeded in accomplishing a complete reversal of Government policy. The policy as announced by the Minister in 2003 stated that Valentia and Malin Head stations would be expanded and the Dublin station would be closed. The policy has not been changed and proof of that comes from the Ceann Comhairle, a south Kerry man, and Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher, who was Minister of State at the time.

If the equipment goes into Dublin, the station's future is secured and the future of both Valentia and Malin will be jeopardised. This is a perfect example of what the Minister of State, Deputy McGuinness, referred to recently and what led another Minister of State, Deputy Dick Roche, on "The Week in Politics" on RTE last Sunday night, to remark that the service resembles Humphrey from the satirical comedy "Yes Minister".

If this is allowed by Government, what else is happening behind the closed doors of various Departments? Staff at both Valentia and Malin believe the west coast station is only a smokescreen to allow a single centre to be set up in Dublin, which is what those civil servants wanted from the beginning. If the station in Dublin is operational they will find reasons for not progressing the west coast station, just as they found reasons to close Valentia and Malin.

See this speech in context