Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to the House today. As other Members have said, it is very important that we start by thanking the men and women of the current SAR contract for their bravery and professionalism and what they do for us all on a daily basis. I also thank both Senators for bringing forward this Private Members' motion. It is very important that it is discussed. I thank Senator Craughwell in particular for his work on this issue to date.

As a number of speakers have said, Ireland's SAR system is derived from the Government's adherence to a number of international conventions and guidance manuals. In brief, these conventions impose obligations on Ireland to ensure that necessary arrangements are in place for distress communication and co-ordination in their area of responsibility and for the rescue of persons in distress. Policy responsibility for maritime and aeronautical SAR services in Ireland rests with the Department of Transport. This policy is implemented by the Irish Coast Guard in its capacity as the maritime SAR co-ordinator and by the Irish Aviation Authority in its capacity as the aeronautical SAR co-ordinator. Land SAR is implemented by An Garda Síochána.

Aside from the current SAR contract debate, on which I will concentrate later, there is no doubt that over the medium to long term, significant savings could be made by carrying out what could be called a whole-of-government air services needs analysis. Adopting a whole-of-government approach would reduce the Government's overall carbon footprint from air services and projected savings could be invested in other areas. We are aware that an interdepartmental group was previously formed to examine long-term options for ministerial air transport, but we are not aware of any group examining air services needs across the entirety of the Government. There can be no doubt that Government air services are being deployed independently of one another. The Department of Transport pre-tender strategic assessment failed to analyse a multitude of options available to the Irish Coast Guard in terms of aerial surveillance both in the State and through other EU agencies.An in-depth analysis of all these options would, in the opinion of some we have spoken to, cast serious doubt on the requirement for privately contracted fixed-wing or unmanned aerial systems. Questions have been asked today and previously about the Department's independent aviation technical adviser. The Minister must address the experience the company has in evaluating national search and rescue contracts. In preparing the new contract, a number of experts have stated that comparisons to other countries such as the UK and the Netherlands that operate a fully privatised SAR service are misleading. The reason put forward is that both these countries maintain military forces that have a significant number of helicopters and can operate an emergency SAR service if issues arise with the civilian operator. That is obviously not the case in Ireland. The UK has explicitly highlighted a systematic weakness of having a sole private provider in its latest national review of SAR services. This is a very important point and it has not been acknowledged in the Department's strategic appraisal.

A major concern of many, including ourselves, is that there is currently limited contingency planning in place to ensure service delivery if a private operator is unable to provide a service either through strike action or, for example, through bankruptcy. It is our understanding and an issue of concern that military operations and training on land, sea and air are not included in the current national SAR framework and guidance. This is standard practice in other countries. This places an onus and responsibility on the Defence Forces to be able to search for and, if necessary, rescue their personnel. From a practical point of view the assistance of other agencies will always be requested if required, such as the Garda or Coast Guard, but it is an important point to note. The Defence Forces will need to continue to develop a certain level of capability in this field and thus the State should seek to maximise the return on any investment in the Defence Forces.

It is very important to note in this debate that security and defence operations such as intercepting drug traffickers or any counterterrorism operations, whether that be led by the Garda or Defence Forces, cannot be carried out from aircraft on the civil register. The pilots and crew cannot be compelled to put themselves in harm's way in such operations so, again, there is a requirement on the Defence Forces to maintain a fleet of helicopters capable of carrying out these duties. The training competencies and equipment requirements for these types of mission are so similar to SAR that obvious synergies across government can be achieved. We contend, once again, that such needs must be recognised in the new SAR contract.

The Government's amendment states: "the process is now at detailed business case stage which is focused on the remaining viable options; this business case is being prepared by KPMG with input from the Project Team and their own aviation expertise;"

It would be very helpful if the Minister of State could confirm to the House the name of the consultants being used by KPMG and the level of expertise they have.

This debate concerns important and urgent issues for the future of the Defence Forces. The SAR contract must begin to consider including the Air Corps and the Defence Forces. There must be a whole-of-government needs analysis of the Government's air services. Along with many experts in this area, we believe this would show that synergies can be made by incorporating a sovereign element in the forthcoming SAR contract. In the early 2000s, this country began to include a civilian provider in addition to the Defence Forces in providing the SAR contract. The military involvement in SAR ended in 2003. We, in the Labour Party, feel that the time has now come to incorporate and involve the Defence Forces once again in the provision of search and rescue in this country. This would provide obvious benefits to the Defence Forces in building up its competencies and assets. It would also ensure that the State is not beholden to one private operator and any unforeseen events that such dependency could result in. It is time to resource the Defence Forces, pay them properly and give opportunities to serving personnel. The Government must recognise that the forthcoming SAR contract provides this country with an ideal opportunity to begin this process, which is long overdue.