Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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12. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will establish an inquiry to independently review the structure, governance, management and organisational culture at the Irish Coast Guard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10515/23]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister if he will establish an inquiry to independently review the structural governance, management and organisational culture at the Irish Coast Guard and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department is committed to ensuring that the Irish Coast Guard service remains fully capable and equipped to meet current and future challenges. An open recruitment process is currently under way to fill several senior leadership positions in the Irish Coast Guard, IRCG, including a new appointment at assistant secretary level to lead this vital service and an open recruitment process for the director of the Irish Coast Guard role. In setting the strategic direction, the new assistant secretary will serve as a full member of the Department of Transport’s management board and will oversee a review across all aspects, including strategy, structure, roles, culture and governance of the Irish Coast Guard service. This will be the first time an appointment will be made at assistant secretary level to lead the IRCG. The main responsibilities will include setting the strategic direction on what will save the most lives, including improving safety on the water for all citizens and delivering excellent customer service, working effectively with a wide range of stakeholders; leading and managing the Coast Guard function across a range of administrative, professional and technical functions, grades and volunteers; providing excellence in corporate leadership and fostering positive leadership practices at every level in the service to execute strategy effectively; and driving and delivering a transformation programme for IRCG, following a review across all aspects of the coast guard service including strategy, structure, roles, culture and governance to ensure that the IRCG is best placed to succeed in the 21st century. An extensive engagement programme with volunteers and staff, including an independent review of the role of the volunteer, will be undertaken to inform and guide this work.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome that news and I take from it an acknowledgement. A number of members of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications are in the Chamber. The committee held a series of hearings last year with representatives from the Department, senior management at the Irish Coast Guard and representatives of the Coastal Unit Advisory Group, CUAG, and the Irish Coast Guard Volunteers Representative Association, ICGVRA. A range of issues was raised that were of concern to all of us. It is a job of work the committee is eager to pick up again. Will the ICGVRA will be included and afforded the opportunity to engage with this review? What is the timeline for the review to be established?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, a new assistant secretary, who will serve as a member of the Department of Transport's management board, will oversee a review of all aspects, including strategy, structure, roles, culture and governance of the Coast Guard service. This will be the first time an assistant secretary will be appointed to do that. The appointment was placed and advertised through the Public Appointments Service, PAS, and the closing date passed on Thursday, 23 February. There will be a process through the PAS and Top Level Appointments Committee, TLAC, for that role. Whenever that role is filled, the new assistant secretary will commence the work. The candidate information booklet sets out the nature of the role and prioritisation of certain aspects, which include strategy, structures, roles and culture.

I recently met representatives of CUAG. There is a broad range of volunteers in the organisation and I have taken away some of the volunteer priorities. I was in Rosslare in the last few weeks, where I met some volunteers. We are anxious to work with volunteers, which is why I met CUAG.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State. It is important that the ICGVRA is afforded the opportunity to make a submission to the review and is fully engaged, as well as CUAG and other interested parties. I encourage the Minister of State to meet representatives of the association. I take a positive from what the Minister of State said, that there is an opportunity to address the range of issues in the Coast Guard and place the organisation on the strongest possible footing.

On a matter related to the legislation we are dealing with at the committee, there were criticisms of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, MCIB, of not being involved or adequately answering to inquests and coroner courts. Will the Minister of State ensure, in the case of the inquest into the tragic death of Catríona Lucas, that the MCIB is fully engaged in that process?

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I echo some of what Deputy O'Rourke said. This has been a common theme at the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. I too would like to see the Irish Coast Guard Volunteers Representative Association afforded the opportunity to meet the Minister and contribute to matters in this area. We have heard repeatedly that volunteers feel there are inadequacies regarding the hierarchy of the organisation. It was very unusual, on the day the top personnel of the Irish Coast Guard were before the committee, that we were all getting texts and emails from volunteers around the country, feeding questions and content into the meeting. This suggests there are some managerial inefficiencies, to say the least. I ask the Minister of State, who is doing a good job and has hit the ground running, to take full oversight of this. My colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, referred to the death of Catríona Lucas. The Marine Casualty Investigation Board needs to have oversight of that. We also need the release, finally, of the Clinch report, which has been held back for far too long.

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I would also like to see the Irish Coast Guard Volunteers Representative Association kept fully briefed on this review and be given an opportunity to contribute to it. I ask the Minister of State to meet its representatives to discuss their various concerns. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communication, which has done work on this. It is welcome that this review is happening but stakeholders like the ICGVRA need to be included. I hope the Minister of State will respond positively to the three requests from members of the joint committee.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for their suggestions and input. To respond to Deputy O'Rourke's point, relevant legislation is going through pre-legislative scrutiny. I will await the recommendations of the committee on that legislation.

On the broader point, as I said, the role of volunteers is extremely important. It is for that reason that we are appointing someone at assistant secretary level to lead a review of all aspects of strategy, structure, roles, culture and governance, including an independent review of the role of volunteers.

This will be important to guide this work and will make the Coast Guard fit for the coming years. I thank everyone for their input.