Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I ask the Minister to liaise with and support Galway city and county councils to ensure a base, as well as basic funding, is provided on the west side of Galway city for the Galway mountain rescue team. This, as the Minister may be aware, is a 999 emergency response service undertaken entirely by volunteers covering the Galway and Clare mountain ranges.

Galway mountain rescue is a voluntary organisation which provides a 112 or a 999 emergency response service referred by the Garda. The response service is to the upland and remote areas of counties Galway and Clare. The service is available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Galway mountain rescue is a registered charity. The team currently comprises 34 active volunteers, male and female, ranging in age from 24 to 66, travelling from Letterfrack in north west Connemara to the Burren in County Clare. Its members come from all walks of life from farming to engineering to teaching and are highly skilled selfless volunteers.

The emergency response service it provides includes casualty care, rope rescue, search management and search and rescue operations. It works with a wide range of agencies such as the Ambulance Service, the Irish Air Corps, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Garda Síochána, mountain rescue teams throughout the country, the Irish Coast Guard, Civil Defence and Coillte Ireland. It is one of 12 rescue teams in the country. I have met the team. It is an amazing life-saving service, provided entirely by selfless people who are skilled volunteers. The very least they deserve is a base for their two vehicles, a jeep and a van and a place to dry their gear and recharge their batteries and some basic funding. It is very little to ask for a 999 service.

Within the past few weeks the team was instrumental in safely locating an old man who had been lost for a number of days in the Moycullen area and his family feared for his life. More recently they were involved in the high profile three-day tragic rescue of the body of a climber in the Mweelrea mountain range. Their work is largely invisible and this in itself makes their situation problematic. Nobody sees the work they do and, as a result, they may not have as high a profile and benefit from funding in the same way, or even public funding as other groups. They are the brave ones who are out at night and day searching for life. This is our chance to rescue them and provide them with a suitable base for their basic gear.

A base to the west side of Galway city is highly desirable for easier and quicker access to the mountains. I have spoken to Ciarán Hayes of Galway City Council. Both the city and county council do not dispute the need and, in fact, are doing their best to try to locate a base. I am bringing this matter to the attention of the Minister to intervene to achieve a base, if possible prior to Christmas.

I met one of the volunteer leaders earlier this week, Mr. Jarlath Folan, who informed me that the team's current base is in the grounds of University College Hospital Galway, a base from which the team has to move. It is right that they move as there is total congestion. There are two parking spaces with no place for their gear to dry other than at the back of the van. Mr. Folan made the point, after they finished the three day search, that their gear was wet and sticky. They did not even have the proper facilities to recharge the batteries for the search lights. They take home the gear and wash it themselves. The gear would hang out and dry quite well if they had even a cabin. What struck me was the unsuitability of the current location for an emergency response team given the horrendous congestion and parking problems on the grounds of University College Hospital Galway. That is leading into a totally different Department because what is happening is not good from a health grounds position in terms of parking. Their need has been independently verified in 2012 when a team assessment was conducted by international experts who said that the lack of a base facility with sufficient space to store, inspect, dry and maintain rescue equipment and to properly house team vehicles is a serious impediment in providing a safe and efficient rescue service. A dedicated rescue base is a pressing requirement which impacts more across a range of sectors, including giving necessary assistance to visitors in Connemara and the national park and supporting an adequate wilderness emergency response generally.

This is not just a life saving service. It is a huge service to tourism. For that reason I am pleased the Minister has given his time to be present to listen to this Adjournment matter. He knows as well as I do how much the west relies on tourism. We have always learned that it is an industry that spreads its net value across the region. When walkers and climbers are coming to our country we need them to know that if they get into difficulty there is a service that can respond immediately.