Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With respect Deputy, we are not going to be the ones assessing those who tender for this contract. A group of experts will do that. They will ensure that the service provision we need from this contract is as comprehensively met as possible. That will be the tender that wins this.

I would like to see some form of carve-out with the overall provision of this service that can allow the Air Corps to do an awful lot more than it does today, as well as to invest in the training and the equipment that can allow it to do that. My interest, as Minister for Defence, is to ensure we are building capacity in the Air Corps, as well as responding to the service demands of a search and rescue contract that we have some time now to prepare for after 2022 and 2023.

We are not going to be supporting any service provision that does not have the capacity for quick response times. We certainly will not be compromising any intelligence data. With respect, I do not think the issues the Deputy raised are of real concern.

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