Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to take the opportunity to reply on behalf of the Minister for Defence, who is unfortunately unable to be present in the Chamber due to previous commitments. He has asked me to respond to this matter and to highlight the important role played by the Defence Forces, including the Air Corps, in supporting a wide range of public-facing services. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue which is important. I will park and put aside for one moment the cheap political shots and the usual snide Sinn Féin remarks made in respect of people. I will park also my own amusement at a party like Sinn Féin going on about undermining our Defence Forces, when it had such an involvement in doing so for so long with some colleagues.

The defence organisation provides a broad range of services in accordance with its primary defence and security role which it also undertakes as a diverse range of non-security related tasks. The Defence Forces continue to carry out the roles assigned by Government, including providing critical supports to An Garda Síochána. The Defence Forces also carry out aid to the civil authority supports to other Departments and agencies. In particular, the Defence Forces are playing an active and important role in the Covid-19 response through providing a broad range of supports to the HSE.

Since 2004 the Irish Coast Guard has had overall responsibility for the provision of search and rescue services within the Irish search and rescue domain. The Irish Coast Guard falls under the remit of the Minister for Transport. From within the defence organisation, both the Naval Service and the Air Corps provide support to the Irish Coast Guard in maritime search and rescue operations on an "as available" basis. A service level agreement is in place with the Irish Coast Guard, setting out agreed roles and responsibilities in this regard.

As the Deputy is aware and has alluded to, there is currently work ongoing, under the remit of the Department of Transport, to progress a new marine search and rescue aviation contract for future service provision. The current contract for the search and rescue helicopter service is between the Minister of Transport and a civil helicopter operator, CHC Ireland. The contract commenced on 1 July 2012 for a period of ten years, with an option to extend for a further three years. The existing contract was extended earlier this year, for one year to 2023, to facilitate the lengthy procurement process and ensure compliance with the public spending code.

A next generation search and rescue aviation steering group has been set up under the auspices of the Department of Transport and led by the Irish Coast Guard to manage the procurement of the next search and rescue aviation service. Personnel from the Department of Defence and members of the Air Corps are key stakeholders and members of the steering group progressing this contract, and have played an active role in the group’s discussions since its inception a number of months ago.

Given the significant level of investment involved and the wider benefits to be achieved from this investment, a whole-of-government approach is being adopted to the procurement process. This approach will seek to optimise the potential benefits in meeting existing and anticipated needs for search and rescue in the first instance, and then identify how value for money can be achieved for other ancillary state aviation needs within financial and regulatory parameters.

I would like to confirm that the defence organisation is supportive of the Department of Transport’s programme to put in place the next generation search and rescue contract. A strategic assessment and preliminary appraisal document in line with the public service code was agreed by the steering group and brought to Government for information in July. The preliminary appraisal included an appraisal of various service delivery options, including where the State assumed full responsibility for the service, either through the Air Corps or a dedicated Irish Coast Guard aviation branch. Both were ruled out for a variety of reasons, but notably, the risks to the State and questions around potential affordability and deliverability.

In terms of the procurement process a prior information notice has been published on eTenders by the Department of Transport to alert the market to the upcoming competition, and engagement with the market is currently taking place. The next step will be to bring a detailed business case to Government, with an appraisal of the remaining viable options with a recommendation on the way forward to delivering this service and the procurement strategy to achieve it. Subject to Government approval, it is intended that a request for tender will be published in quarter one of 2021, and the new contract awarded by the end 2021 or early 2022.

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