Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's record in 2019 is a double-digit level of turnover of 10%. This is an increase of 25% of the turnover from 2018. It is up from the turnover of 7.5% in 2017, with regard to which the University of Limerick stated there was a dysfunctional cycle of turnover. The Minister of State said the ships that were docked would return in the autumn but they did not. He is now telling us the air ambulance service will be back in the spring. How can we believe him if the LÉ Eithneand the LÉ Orlaare not back as he said they would be, so that he could get himself out of a gap?

The reality is the retention policies under the watch of the Minister of State are resulting in an ongoing exodus of personnel. He cannot recruit his way out of this retention crisis. We have serious health and safety concerns. This is an absolute fact. Some of the ships that are leaving our shores have a minimal bare bone level of staff. Will it take a serious terrorist incident or a serious incident on a ship or during an operational deployment for the Minister of State to take this retention issue seriously? With a double-digit level of turnover, which is increasing year on year, and with record levels of turnover on the Minister of State's watch, we are facing an ongoing collapsing level of structure and safety risks.

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