Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. It goes back to the earlier point I made that the engineer is based in Dublin, servicing the marine rescue co-ordination centre there and Malin yet the busiest station is in Valentia and the engineer will be based in Cork, 200 km away. While there are ten Coast Guard units in Cork and five in Kerry the requirement for maintenance of equipment is minimal compared to the important equipment at Valentia. If that equipment or the utilities coming into it suffer a catastrophic failure as stated in one report, prior to the new equipment being installed, nothing else works. If something goes down in Ballycotton, only Ballycotton is out of action; if something goes down in Valentia, everything from Cork to the Aran Islands goes out of action, hence the reason we believe an engineer should be living on the island and working there during the day but also available at short notice. That was the issue raised in Kerry about the position being filled. As the Minister is in the House I avail of the opportunity to congratulate him on his post but also to advise him that the two previous incumbents received reports on the reason Valentia should be closed. There is an agenda within the Department and the Coast Guard to close Valentia. Unfortunately the Oireachtas joint committee had to invite in the senior civil servants from the Department and take apart their reports line by line. When the facts were uncovered it was clear that the reports presented to this and the previous Government were at variance with the truth. When I was younger I watched "Yes Minister" but never thought I would see it in action but I did. If the Minister does have a report perhaps he would ask for the two previous reports and inquire what happened to them when there was an attempt to close the Coast Guard station at Valentia.