Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this Topical Issue matter and the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, for taking the place of the Minister for Defence.

Our search and rescue operators are the people who go out in all weathers, conditions and days of the year to bring us safely home. They are there when boats go missing, swimmers get lost, climbers fall, walkers go astray and when people on the edge take their own lives. I pay my respects to the men and women of the State who have lost their lives in the service of search and rescue. Their names are etched in our national heart and all of them are greatly loved and missed.

Our Air Corps is an integral part of that service and we are very lucky to have it. We look up and see the Air Corps top cover in the sky, and we know that help is on the way to someone in danger. We depend on that cover, just as we value the officers who provide it. When Air Corps worries were personally relayed to the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, he said he could not deal with them due to ethics. Then he went and leaked a confidential Government document to a personal friend, illustrating Fine Gael's commitment to private service for the few and not public service for all. That is how the public reads this.

In contrast, the Air Corps is there for everyone and it works for everyone. Apart from their expertise, these exemplary public servants put their lives on the line to give hope and confidence when all seems lost. Now it looks like we could lose them further and lose their service, because the Government is putting the search and rescue service contract out for tender again.

It is another controversial contract, which is worth more than €60 million a year for ten years, to provide four helicopters and an aircraft. That amounts to more than €0.5 billion of Irish taxpayers' money, when our Air Corps, for all intents and purposes, could do it for half the sum. Six private companies are expected to bid, including two, at last count, from abroad. Therefore, a private foreign company paid by Irish public money could base its search and rescue aircraft not here, where we are paying for it, but in Britain. Equally, that British private company, paid by Irish public money, could be the very company reported in the Irish media as carrying out clandestine operations for the British Ministry of Defence.

This tendering of the contract for our search and rescue services could have a serious impacts in the following ways: first, privatising yet another public service and using public money to do it; second, ignoring the worries of Air Corps officers about Irish military intelligence and the lack of control and oversight of data and what happens in British airfields; and third, downgrading the Air Corps, which is a vital part of our long-neglected and undervalued Defence Forces to the point that it could disappear over the Government's privatisation horizon. To add insult to injury, this is a flagrant breach of the commitments made in the programme for Government.

We need to know vastly more about the plans for this tendering process and why the Minister for Defence is content to further undermine our Defence Forces. Why not recognise the expertise that is still in our Air Corps? Why not invest in our Air Corps and stop further privatisation? Why would the Minister for Defence even consider a private company, which has been reported in the media as being involved in clandestine operations for the British Ministry of Defence, and why would he do this over the heads of our own outstanding Irish Air Corps and despite the intelligence concerns of its officers? These are the questions I am being met with in Kildare, and I am interested in the response of the Minister of State.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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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.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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Unlike the Minister of State, I will ignore the snide remarks.

The Government must listen to the experts in our Defence Forces. These are the people whose first loyalty is to the State and its people - it is not to fund managers, bankers and brokers. The Air Corps does not want to see any further privatisation of our Defence Forces. The issue is not just the fact that the State is paying for aircraft that could be based in the UK, or the dismissal of our own loyal Air Corps, its officers and their concerns about military intelligence, in favour of a private company that is loyal to the markets. I do not understand why the Minister of State cannot see this. It is the relentless move, by Fine Gael primarily, to privatise a public service, and one that is so important to an Island nation, and to use public funds to enrich a private company and investors.

None of what is happening is going down well with personnel in the Air Corps. It is in breach of the programme for Government, which is still fresh off the block, and it is a perfect example of Fine Gael saying one thing and delivering something else. I hope the Minister of State will impress on the Minister the need to rethink this matter and provide more clarity. Unfortunately, I did not even receive a copy of the Minister of State's reply. The other Ministers of State who came to the Chamber to take Topical Issue matters had the manners to ensure that a copy of their reply was given to the Deputy who raised the matter in question. The Minister needs to listen to the experts on this issue. I hope the Minister of State will convey to him my dissatisfaction with the reply I have been given.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We will arrange for a copy of the reply to be given to the Deputy.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I will ensure that she receives a copy.

It is important to listen to what people are saying, as the Deputy pointed out. I will reiterate a couple of the points I made in my reply, as she may not have taken them on board the first time. Personnel from the Department of Defence and members of the Air Corps are key stakeholders in the steering group that is progressing this contract. Contrary to what the Deputy said, it is absolutely the case that members of the Defence Forces and the Air Corps are being listened to in this matter. The Government is working at all costs to ensure there is a proper procurement process and to deliver a proper service with value for money. A large amount of taxpayers' money is at stake in any contract of this size and we must ensure the process is done correctly. I will, of course, bring the Deputy's comments to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Coveney.