Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his comments. I have only briefly seen "Yes Minister". I assure the Senator that the environment in which I work does not resemble it in any way. I accept the Senator's genuine interest in the matter raised. I had the opportunity to visit Valentia and meet the management of the overall Coast Guard service. While there, one of the issues emphasised to me was that the advances that have taken place, following Government investment, mean that if any critical system for any catastrophic reason were not to work the same system and capacity can be deployed via the other two key stations in Malin and Dublin. If for any reason a systems failure were to occur, owing to the investment that has been put in place we have the capacity for the other two key stations to play a role in sustaining safety.

In respect of any reports I have received, I have no such report in front of me. I am aware of the debate that took place in the past in respect of Valentia. I was happy to visit the Coast Guard and see the unit which has been invested in and to attend an event to commemorate the 100 years of service that took place there. I look forward to many more years of service being provided there. I understand where Senator Daly is coming from in respect of the specific point he put to me regarding the location of the engineer. The people who work in this area in my Department - whose only agenda, I assure the Senator, is to work with me to get the best value out of the money that is available to us while at the same time meeting the safety needs on our coasts and in our waters - have been clear that it is important that this person is based in Cork to service the other ten units within the county and region of Cork and to deliver the other needs that I have identified such as maintenance, fault analysis, maintenance of radio site infrastructure and other matters I detailed in my earlier contribution. The location was chosen for those reasons and it is a decision I support, given the expertise that went into making it. However, I will keep the Senator's broader points in mind in the context of any future decisions or debate on the unit.