Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

My point is very simple. For the joint Defence Forces and Department of Defence annual reports in 2015 and 2016, high-level groups were put together to report on the emergency air ambulance service. The Minister of State and the Department, and everybody and anybody under the sun, were aware of the fact there would be serious shortcomings down the line. The recommendations of those two groups were ignored completely and were totally and utterly rejected. The Minister of State then went on to say a number of pilots had been recommissioned into the Air Corps. The truth is that one is a lieutenant-colonel who will not fly because he has an administrative rank, and the second is a captain who, I am sure, is not going to be given the keys of a helicopter and told, "Good lad, off you go and fly helicopters for us". At the end of the day, I am afraid that is not good enough.

I could go through a plethora of issues. The Leader is smiling away. One of the places we might look is in his own backyard in Cork, where two ships costing millions of euro are tied up with no crew to sail them. The announcement yesterday, which was cynical to say the least, of the tax relief that has been provided for sailors was a 12th-hour announcement. The truth is that most seagoing people have had that allowance for years.

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business: "That the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence, if possible, or the Minister of State with responsibility for defence, Deputy Kehoe, be brought to this House today at 6:15 p.m. to deal with the issues raised on the "Saturday with Cormac Ó hEadhra" programme and a plethora of other issues in regard to the Defence Forces."