Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The tragic loss of R116 has caused shockwaves across the emergency services. Regrettably, the sense of grief has been compounded by what has emerged after, namely that the Air Corps was unable to assign a fixed-wing patrol aircraft to provide the top cover that would normally happen which meant that R116 was scrambled. The Minister of State confirmed recently, and just repeated again, that the Air Corps, despite being best equipped to provide such top cover with its CASA fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft, is only available to provide this essential service on a part-time basis. Punitive cutbacks imposed on the Defence Forces and a lack of planning are the reasons the Air Corps is in such a state.

In particular, I refer to the non-replacement of personnel and the lack of recruits for many years. The specialist nature of air crew and air traffic control means that it is only in the most exceptional circumstances that the Air Corps can provide personnel outside normal hours, as happened when Rescue 116 went down, and it is also why personnel cannot be made available for the transfer of patients such as children who need an organ transplants outside the normal hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., as the Minister of State confirmed to me only last month.

The fate of Rescue 116 must serve as a wake up call. In light of this horrendous, and, I believe, avoidable, tragedy, when can we expect the loss of experienced personnel in the Air Corps to be replaced in order that the 24-hour top cover can be reinstated? Can the Minister of State provide an assurance that out of the 28 Air Corps cadets currently in training that an adequate number will be assigned as tech and fire crews and when will they be in place to provide those critical roles? When will he fill the other 47 positions that are vacant? That does not, however, take account of those retiring this year, which is a point the Minister of State made earlier.

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