Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar. I wish to raise this issue again in a public forum. In July for many members from within the fishing community and along the west coast from Malin Head to Valentia it was a case of déjà vu or ground-hog day coming back to bite us with respect to the Malin Head and Valentia scenarios. The reality is that we are faced with a situation in this country where reconfigurations are taking place throughout the State boards. All sectors, bar none, are included in the reconfiguration options.

Let us consider the process since July. I wish to acknowledge the type of political process that has been employed. In fairness, it has been cross-community, cross-sector, cross-Border and cross-political in nature. There has been constructive engagement and this reflects the mood of the people from within the coastal voluntary services, within the fishing community and internally within the staff of the Coast Guard. I am keen to see how far advanced this constructive mechanism has come. I commend individuals from within the Coast Guard. I recall the Minister travelled to Malin Head on 27 July. He was accompanied by Chris Reynolds, head of the Coast Guard. That served as an interesting forum to discuss the various permutations within the sector. Certainly, we had a disagreement on what would represent the best mechanism to start off the conversation. I was keen to bring in various sectors and members of the community. In fairness, the Minister was insistent that he wanted to find out what was happening in the area and what services were being employed. The divisional manager at the Coast Guard station was interested in putting forward ideas to the Minister and these ideas have been put back into the system.

The Minister stated he would not accept any recommendation made in the Fisher report until he had his own thought process analysed. The hearings by the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications provided people with another opportunity to put across their points of view. It is welcome that extra time has been provided to allow Fisher consultants to undertake a further review. While I am regularly critical of consultancies for the sake of having them, this one allowed people time to get their heads around different reconfigurations.

I have raised the issue today because of the indicative timeframe of the end of October given in regard to a possible announcement on the issue. We are now approaching December and the Minister has had time to consider the further review undertaken by Fisher consultants. It would be welcome if he could update the House on the current position in terms of a decision being announced.

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