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

The Deputy is probably aware that voluntary search and rescue groups, such as those referred to by him, do not come under the aegis of the Department of Transport. However, I can confirm that the Department does provide an annual maintenance grant to support the search and rescue activities of voluntary search groups involved in mountain and cave rescue and community rescue boats. The grant, formally entitled the "coastal and inshore, mountain and cave rescue grant current", provides for grant aid to current expenditure for Mountain Rescue Ireland, MRI, mountain rescue teams and the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation, ICRO. There are ten mountain rescue teams, all of which are constituent members of MRI. They respond to requests for emergency assistance in upland and mountainous areas of Ireland. The Search and Rescue Dogs Association is also a member of MRI. ICRO is the body responsible for cave and abandoned mine rescues within the island of Ireland and works closely with MRI. The assistance of MRI and ICRO in a search and rescue task is provided at the request of An Garda Síochána. The grant also provides funding to Community Rescue Boats Ireland, CRBI, which constitutes the "coastal and inshore" part of the grant's title. CRBI is a nationwide group of independent voluntary rescue boats, which are trained and administered by Water Safety Ireland. It is a declared resource and is available to the Coast Guard to respond to emergencies in its area of responsibility. CRBI units operate entirely independently of mountain rescue units and are, in practice, a different funding stream.

The grant allocation arrangement underwent a significant review in 2019 and an increase in funding to those teams was provided on foot of this review. Voluntary search groups also receive occasional funding from other Government sources, including the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and local authorities. Water Safety Ireland implements a VAT exemption scheme applicable to independent maritime search organisations.

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