Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, as he could not be here. He sends his apologies. I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the issue of missing persons, which is obviously of importance to us all and to the country but also, acutely, to those who have lost loved ones in this way. The Senator has correctly referred to the great work done by many groups involved with search and rescue. I am familiar with my own group, Meath river rescue, which is based in Navan and does great work offering support and hope to families trying to find a loved one. It is important that we support that as best we can both in a voluntary capacity and through our work in various Departments. It can be a difficult time for families and it is important that we do everything we can to help.

Maritime search and rescue is the responsibility of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Primary responsibility for this has been delegated to the Irish Coast Guard, which is a division within the Department. The Coast Guard co-ordinates maritime search and rescue services at sea and leads and co-ordinates national participation in search and rescue and safety-related initiatives of the International Maritime Organisation. An Garda Síochána is responsible for missing persons and for land-based search and rescue. As Galway city and Oranmore are inland areas, the matters raised by the Senator are essentially matters for An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice and Equality.

In the event that the Coast Guard is requested to provide assistance in the adjacent coastal area, such as Galway Bay, the immediately available resources are Costello Bay Coast Guard unit, the Doolin and the Aran Island Coast Guard units and the Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter. The area is also served by the RNLI, which has a lifeboat in Galway and would also respond to incidents as tasked by the Coast Guard in such an event.

As I have indicated, missing persons matters come under the remit of the Garda. The Garda Síochána is also responsible for mountain search and rescue co-ordination in Ireland. The Defence Forces, in aid to the civil authority or power, may also engage in search and rescue activities on land, mountains, inland lakes or rivers. My Department pays annual grants to designated mountain rescue teams and designated community operated rescue services which are known as Community Rescue Boats Ireland. The role of paying annual grants to the mountain rescue teams was assigned to the Irish Coast Guard from the Department of Justice and Equality some years back in the interests of certain administrative efficiencies. Community rescue boat teams have a formal relationship with the Irish Coast Guard, on foot of which they are designated as declared resources. The CRBIs are primarily self-funded groups that are equipped with rescue boats and associated facilities.

In conclusion, I regret to say that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has no basis or financial resources to provide funding to groups other than the mountain rescue and the CRBI. I believe that the mechanisms we have in place, which encompass the Garda, the Irish Coast Guard and the Defence Forces, are in good shape to deal with the horror of missing person cases when they occur and, hopefully, they will bring them to a positive conclusion. That said, we are interested in hearing further about what the Senator thinks and there is no doubt that we will engage further on this important topic. I suggest, from my own involvement with Leader, that perhaps the Senator's group would be successful if it applied for Leader funding. The Senator should find out whether a Leader or partnership group operates in the Galway area and, if so, whether it will work with the Senator's team to finance some of this project. I know that such initiatives have been successful in the past.