Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

It is not often we speak on an issue with one voice in terms of cross-party and cross-county support. We are all saying the same thing. These centres have been under attack by some body or group for many years. I have fought left, right and centre in my corner for them for many years. I would like to think that my intervention in the past helped ensure the outcome referred to in the earlier statements about the 2003-04 decision to not only maintain but upgrade the two operation centres at Malin Head and on Valentia Island. It is terrible that another attack is being launched on two fundamental sections of our communities.

Senator O'Toole spoke about the expansion of areas. I was responsible for ensuring a major upgrade of the school in 2007, to which he referred, when it was concerned about being closed. Major investment has been made in developing the pier and crèche facilities in Malin Head. Other Departments are also investing in Malin Head and I have been at the core of ensuring such investment. I have also been at the core of ensuring that the station at Malin Head would not be closed during recent years. We received a report which recommended that it, as well as the station on Valentia Island, should be upgraded. My comments are based on my experience in regard to the station at Malin Head and in solidarity with the position being taken by those in the station on Valentia Island.

I want the Minister of State to bring back the message to Government that if this service can be provided anywhere in the country, then it should be left where it is. The stations on Valentia Island and at Malin Head can deliver this service. I will go through some of the extensive detail at my disposal regarding the position of Malin Head in order to prove that the same untruths that were told about the station on Valentia Island were told about the station at Malin Head. When I asked the people in the area surrounding Malin Head for a rebuttal of the report, they came together and put the information down on the paper. We are not talking about an emotional argument. This is not about emotions but about facts. We do not want our area downgraded because factually, it can sustain what is required and the local community want to ensure this.

It is nonsense to talk about the need for a second facility to be located close to a first facility. If one were to travel out of Dublin between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., it would take two hours to travel from one side of the city to the other. One could travel a fair distance from Malin Head in two hours. If a situation is an emergency, a helicopter will be used and it does not matter where one is in that context.

The Minister of State said that should a decision be taken to move the service from the stations on Valentia Island and at Malin Head, the Department would examine the retention of the existing staff to operate radio watches from their existing stations. I ask for no half measures. The Government should leave what is well enough alone. The only problem to date has been that the stations are run down, but that is not due to the people of Malin Head or the people on Valentia Island but because of the lack of central in-house investment promised more than five years ago and signed off by the then Minister.

Fundamentally, the argument of moving everything in this regard to Drogheda and seeking a west coast location is a nonsense. Undoubtedly, many services can be decentralised to Drogheda, including parts of the marine section of the Department. I speak on foot of information supplied to me by people who know the position a little better than I do.

The idea of a new radio station and a marine rescue co-ordination centres, MRCC, in Drogheda is not supported by any realistic rationale. A chart of VHF sites in my possession clearly shows that the Drogheda MRCC would be situated less than 80 miles from the Northern Ireland MRCC at Orlock Head. The chart also indicates the restricted area of responsibility of the Irish Coast Guard in the Irish Sea. Approximately 80% of the area is covered by the UK services under the existing agreements on marine rescue co-ordination. Conversely, the Irish area of responsibility in the north west stands to be increased significantly due to recent changes in legislation, for example, marine pollution, etc. The Republic's smallest area of sole responsibility is the Irish Sea, not the west coast where the reductions in staffing are being considered. Any increase in oil exploration within Irish waters will be concentrated in the west and north west, namely, the areas closest to Malin Head.

That is not to say there is not a function for a new station in Drogheda. A headquarters stores, logistics, administration and training of staff could be operated from such a facility in Drogheda or at the new port at Bremore. We are being told that this service can be run from anywhere, but that is anywhere except Valentia Island or Malin Head.

I have a letter from the ESB. I do not know what details were included in the Minister's report in terms of the dates to which he referred. The letter states:

Our records show that there were four interruptions in electricity supply to the Coast Guard . . . in Malin Head in 2007. Two of these faults were during storm conditions in January, there was planned interruption in April and a fault in November. Excluding storm damage, this performance was better than the national average.

Since the completion of the Network Renewal Programme . . . and the installation of a medium voltage submarine cable between the Isle of Daogh and Lagg in 2005, the quality of the electricity supply in . . . Malin [Head] . . . had improved greatly.

In future years, ESB Networks expect the continuity of supply in Malin to be at the national average.

That letter was from Brian Hegarty, area manager Letterkenny, ESB Network Services. Is he a liar? I do not believe he is. He is closest to the ground and I believe he knows the facts.

The same type of back-up service exists in terms of broadband infrastructure. I would like to go into the detail of that, but suffice to say that one of the greatest clouds that hung over our area was the demise of the Fruit of the Loom operation. However, arising from that a task force was set up and it identified telemarketing and call-centre operations as a possible source of job opportunities. Much work was put into that and many groups came together and a substantial rollout of broadband infrastructure has occurred, even in the recent past.

One of the greatest problems we face is that the Department considers this to be a 26-county Ireland with a massive type of Berlin Wall surrounding the rest of the country. Fortunately, normal people like myself live in the north east and we interact on a 32-country island basis. If I were employed in Malin Head and lived in Derry, I would challenge some Members, such as Senator Doherty, to travel to Malin Head in the time I could travel there from Derry. I would say that I would arrive 30 or 40 minutes ahead of his arrival from where he is based.

We are being accused of not living within the county. Someone needs to examine the geography of the region. Malin Head is 40 minutes from the fourth largest centre on the island of Ireland. We have pointed out to the Minister and Mr. Fearon that Malin Head is close to institutes of technology in Letterkenny and Derry and universities in Derry, Limavaddy and Coleraine. It is an hour and half from Belfast. Regardless of whether people are from the area or travelling to it, they have access to good educational qualifications and have great potential, but that is not recognised because the facilities are across the Border. We do not recognise borders in our area; we work in conjunction with the facilities in place. There are fundamental reasons people might live in Derry but work in Donegal.

The main point I want to put forward is that the arguments concerning the ESB supply, broadband deficiency and that people in the area will not take up jobs are not factual. We have had major infrastructural changes in recent years. A decommissioning process will take young people away from the biggest whitefish fleet in the country which is based in Greencastle, very close to Malin Head. These people will need new employment opportunities. The Department has changed the regulations governing the qualifications for working in these centres. These people will be able to work there. Everyone in my area is disgusted with being undermined by a process of decentralisation. How can we sell the idea of decentralisation to Buncrana when the Government says that Inishowen is not the place to go? This is head about tail stuff and it needs to be reversed.