Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)

We can all agree that search and rescue crews are among the bravest men and women on these shores. They are willing to put their lives on the line day in, day out to go beyond what would be deemed reasonable by the average person to save lives, sometimes in the worst weather imaginable. All they are asking for is to be treated fairly and to have their true working hours reflected in their pay and conditions. This is not the first time this matter has been brought to the attention of the Government or that of the IAA, which is under the aegis of the Minister of State's Department. That is why the Government's amendment to this motion is all the more insulting. It has had time to consider the facts and, again, it has chosen to ignore them and allow Bristow Ireland to create a whole new set of rules and data that are, frankly, nonsense.

In a recent response to one of my queries to the IAA on the search and rescue crews' pay and conditions, it said it was aware that the new operation does not allow crew members to be on standby from their home, which was allowed previously and which many crews utilised. Instead, they are provided with suitable accommodation at or very near the base airport. It has acknowledged that the crews are being kept away from their homes, and are not being paid for all of their time away from their homes, but neither the IAA nor the Government wants to do anything about it. Who in the Government thinks that this is reasonable? It has allowed Bristow Ireland to rewrite the rules to suit itself and not the crews. Search and rescue helicopter crews routinely work 24-hour continuous duty periods. Under new rules, these shifts are being recorded as only 16.5 hours through a factoring mechanism. I am saying that this Government has allowed Bristow Ireland to rewrite the rules to suit itself because no other on-duty emergency service crews factor their hours while on shift in Ireland. Would the Government try to introduce this factoring mechanism on other branches of the rescue services? It would not, because there are thousands of personnel in those services combined. I suggest that because the very skilled and very dedicated men and women in the search and rescue crews are small in number, the Government thinks it can bully them and hide behind the contract with Bristow Ireland to accept lesser terms and conditions. If the Minister of State needs further reminding of what he is in control of, I refer him to finding 30 on page 336 of the final report on the Rescue 116 crash, which clearly states that the Minister for Transport has the authority to rule on matters pertaining to the IAA. The Government's amendment to this motion is, therefore, absolutely nonsense.

I commend our search and rescue personnel on their input and on the information they provided ahead of this Private Members' motion. They provided details of EU law labour laws, data and statistics, all of which the Government, the IAA and Bristow Ireland have been ignoring. The Minister of State can bury his head in the sand all he likes, but this is not going away. I am proud that Sinn Féin is standing shoulder to shoulder with the people who provide this vital service, who risk their lives for hours every time they go out. Can the Minister of State hold his head up and say he is doing the same? I am not sure he can. He needs to accept this Private Members' motion as it is. It is time for action from him and from the Irish Aviation Authority to ensure safe and fair working conditions for our brave search and rescue personnel.

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