Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Every community that depends on our Coast Guard air crews knows the truth. This State, our maritime nation and our coastal communities would be lost without the people who go out when everyone else comes in. They answer calls in the darkest hours and in the worst weather. They travel over sea and land when lives hang in the balance. They do all of that while working some of the most demanding 24-hour duty systems anywhere in the public service.

I represent a coastal constituency that has been shaped by generations who have lived and worked close to the sea. I know how essential this service is. In Waterford and across the south east, when we see the helicopters overhead and hear them at night, we understand exactly what they mean. We know that someone somewhere, often at sea and often in bad conditions, is in trouble. We know that these crews are on their way to a medical evacuation from a fishing boat or a ship offshore, to a road traffic incident on the N25, to a coastal cliff rescue or to a medical transfer. The Government is presiding over a system that pretends that 24 hours of continuous readiness amounts to just 16.5 hours of work. It is not a technical adjustment, an accounting error or a matter of differing interpretations. It is a downgrading of the lived reality of the job. It is a direct threat to crew safety through increased fatigue and further stretching of already heavy rosters.

This Government is knowingly endangering our search and rescue crews and, by extension, that means they are endangering every coastal community they protect and serve. These crews work 24-hour shifts in constant readiness, living on a base and prepared to launch in minutes, yet the State pretends that one quarter of that time does not count. As a representative of a proud coastal region shaped by generations who have worked the seas, I know what this service means. The message from these crews and from our coastal communities is clear: the current system is unsafe, unsustainable and unlawful.

The State must act, not when another tragedy forces its hand, but now. European working time rules are clear. When workers are required to remain in immediate readiness, bound to strict response times and unable to use their time freely, that time is working time. Courts across Europe have reinforced this again and again. What the IAA is doing goes against best practice and against the law. Tá sábháilteacht ár bhfoirne tarrthála á chur i mbaol ag an Rialtas seo go mídhleathach agus go mímhórálta. Tá na foirne seo ar dualgas ar feadh 20 uair an chloig, réidh le dul san aer i gceann nóiméid. Ní fhéadfadh siad a láthair a fhágáil agus ní féidir "am scíthe" a ghlaoch ar an am seo. Mar Theachta ó cheantar cósta le ceangal láidir le saol na mara, tuigim go deimhin an tábhacht a bhaineann leis an tseirbhís seo. Sheasamar i bPort Láirge chun ár mbonn tarrthála a chosaint toisc gur ceist beatha agus báis atá inti. Ní oireann na foirne seo ach meas, sábháilteacht agus comhlíonadh an dlí. In Waterford, we know what happens when the Government takes its eye off the ball. When a previous Minister for Transport tried to cut the search and rescue base from the tender document for the new contract, the people of the south east - fishermen, coastal workers, volunteers and families - mobilised because they knew exactly what was at stake. They forced that Minister into a reversal, and they saved the service. They did it because they understand what search and rescue is. They know it is not something you play around with, and not something you denigrate or diminish.

Another issue must now be confronted. Will newly recruited staff who are not part of the CHC transfer and are not protected by transfer of undertakings face different, potentially inferior, working conditions? Instead of the amendment to this motion that has been tabled tonight, if the Government takes responsibility and takes action to remediate the issue we are raising here, will the issue still remain for the new entrants to the service? Our motion seeks something really straightforward and overdue, which is to stop the unsafe factoring practice, to record hours honestly and fairly, to comply with Irish and EU law, and to ensure that the people who risk everything to protect the public are themselves protected and not undermined.

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