Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

On Sunday last, on RTE's "Six One News" an excerpt from "The Week in Politics" was broadcast in which the Minister for bad news, the Minister of State, Deputy Dick Roche, announced the co-ordination centres at Malin Head and Valentia would be phased out and staff would not be replaced as they retire. He also stated two new centres would be established in Dublin and Shannon, respectively. On Monday, the director of the Coast Guard gave verbal indications to staff in Dublin that there would be another centre at Shannon and two other centres would be phased out as staff retire. No notification was given to staff in Valentia and Malin Head or their families. The absence of a warning has caused great distress and confusion among staff and their families.

Without staff, who will man the new centre? Who will control the west coast and what will the staff at Malin Head and Valentia do? If it is still intended to use the Malin Head and Valentia centres to co-ordinate while the facility at Shannon is being phased in, will they continue to operate obsolete equipment? A decision to upgrade the Valentia and Malin Head Coast Guard co-ordination centres with new equipment was taken five years ago by the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Dermot Ahern. The failure by management of the Irish Coast Guard and the Department of Transport to replace this obsolete equipment has placed the lives of mariners at risk.

Clearly, those who made the decision to phase out the centres at Malin Head and Valentia have never worked in a co-ordination centre. They have no idea of the practical operational implications of reducing the number of Coast Guard stations and have based their decision on information which has been proven to be false. It is wrong, for example, that the facilities in question lack staff and have poor communications, ESB infrastructure and local facilities.

Value for money is an important issue in the current climate. The decision on the Malin Head and Valentia centres will result in a building, including equipment and infrastructure worth millions of euro, being left idle in Shannon for years until staff in the other two stations have retired. Given that radio equipment will remain in the buildings in Valentia and Malin Head, additional costs will be generated as it will be necessary to route back to this equipment from Shannon. In addition, the new staff in Shannon will not include senior experienced radio officers to mentor and coach them over time. This does not ignore their induction training.

The local knowledge and experience built up over decades at Valentia, which is vital in co-ordinating the appropriate timely response in any incident throughout the Valentia division, will be lost to the country. The Valentia station co-ordinates to a distance of 200 miles west.

The Minister of State will, I believe, fully appreciate the importance of the Coast Guard stations in Malin Head and Valentia. The decision to phase out these centres will have devastating repercussions for local communities. It should be feasible using modern technology to locate a centre anywhere. If it is possible to locate a facility in Dublin, why not improve the centres in Valentia and Malin Head?

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