Results 3,061-3,080 of 5,356 for speaker:Cathal Crowe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Is this the first or second session?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I will come in now if that is okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Yes. I apologise. We all have overlapping roles and I am on the health committee, which is dealing with the proposal on the maternity hospital today. I have not been in this room at all today and I apologise for that. I have read the opening statements. Much of the genesis of this body of work relates to the Doolin Coast Guard base in my county and concerns we had about how it was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: When the base was reconstituted, some members came back and others did not. Politically, we stood back from the process, which had to be independent and have integrity. The process has concluded and the people who were not readmitted are wondering if there is any recourse for them to re-enter the Irish Coast Guard at any level or on any base, preferably the local one at Doolin. Does Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: That is not my understanding but we can look into it further. I reiterate that we stood back from a process and took our hands off it entirely. This committee has been very involved with the Irish Coast Guard and meeting groups but we felt that to reconstitute any station, we really needed to take political hands off it and leave this to independent people. That has happened but the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Yes, that is how I understand it as well. We must stand back from that but these people are entitled to ask, given the years they have served, why, how and what happens next. I suppose they are some of the questions that will remain unanswered after today but I hope the committee can get more substantial answers in that respect. We undertook a body of work relating to the Irish Coast...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Would Mr. Murray say there are skill deficiencies in Coast Guard stations?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: When a skill is there, is it maintained through continuous training?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Did any communication come from the Department of Transport and the hierarchy of the Irish Coast Guard to say that certain operational procedures were to be abandoned and passed over to local fire services? Specifically with regard to cliff rescues, was that ever communicated to Coast Guard units in the past two years?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: That is good. Cliff rescues are possible again wherever there is a trained crew.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Another issue that arose, which we have discussed in the past, and I am not from a maritime background, is that certain vessels require certain thresholds of training. If one has not reached that benchmark, one cannot take a vessel out beyond the harbour area. Is it the case in any of the Coast Guard stations at present that the station has a nice, shiny, new vessel but it cannot be taken...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: That one was resolved and we were made aware of that. However, on a national basis, is there a case where there is key equipment available but the crew cannot take it to water?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Are those hours sufficient? What I mean, and Mr. Colin Murray could dispute this and I have to bow to his knowledge of it, is that I was shown a RIB vessel some time ago and I was told that if one was in the Irish Naval Service one could be weeks or months getting trained to go out on it, but that in the Irish Coast Guard, where training is more limited, one is expected to go out and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I have a final question and perhaps Mr. Cahill will come in on this as well. I do not think any of the committee members are from a maritime background, unless there is something about them that I do not know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I like looking out at the sea anyway. One thing has struck me all along. We were receiving information and asking questions. That is our job as public representatives. However, the core issue I kept returning to was that morale was seen to be low, divisions were seen in some units and there seemed to be a separation between central management and volunteer units. Some people also said...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Is it now a happy organisation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Coast Guard: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Months ago when all this emerged, another colleague from Clare, Deputy Carey, and I received floods of emails from the county and we addressed them in this forum. However, even as that meeting was taking place, I recall that my telephone was beeping. There were Coast Guard units around the country watching proceedings here, and they are probably tuned in today as well, and they were sending...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Brexit has served to remind us in County Clare and along the western seaboard how geographically peripheral we are in the Continent of Europe. It is obvious now that we are a long way from Dublin, but we are also a long way from Britain and the countries on mainland Europe. In 2015, a national aviation policy was launched which is now totally defunct and no longer relevant as we come out...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: With regard to the health aspect of this agenda, I wish to raise the incessant overcrowding and trolley usage at University Hospital Limerick, UHL, week in, week out. There is yet another inquiry, and I expect its outcome will again indicate that far too many people are funnelled through the same hospital system. When the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, visited the hospital on...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 May 2022)

Cathal Crowe: 16. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Brexit and Northern Ireland will next meet. [22934/22]