Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The primary concern in any search and rescue situation is the individual or individuals on top of a mountain or in the sea who need rescuing. They do not care who rescues them. They could not care less.

There has been some talk in this debate about surge capacity. It is a nonsense argument because when theCosta Concordiawent down in Italy helicopters from all over got involved in the rescue operation. There is no historical evidence to back up the requirement for a surge capacity. If it was required, every asset in the country and in the UK would be brought in to bear on it. With respect to flying into the UK, which was raised by Senator Ward, we do it all the time. Every day of the week we fly people over and back to the UK on military aircraft. We are called on by Northern Ireland to help there to fight fires. There is no difficulty about cross-border issues.

I did not speak about Rescue 116 because I thought it was inappropriate, but I will do so now because it has been already mentioned today. That horrific accident, which happened over four years ago, has not yet been reported on. I join with the Irish Air Line Pilots Association and the European Cockpit Association in calling on the Minister of State to issue the report. It is vitally important that following an air accident a report is issued speedily in order that we can learn the lessons.

The Minister of State spoke about KPMG advising on the business case. Can she confirm if it is Frazer-Nash, the experts employed by KPMG? It is important we know the answer to that question. Yesterday, the Secretary General of the Department of Transport told the Committee of Public Accounts that after ten years the taxpayer had nothing in terms of assets to show for a spend of €60 million per annum, or €1.1 million per week. The officials were unable to point to what we got for the €34.5 million of capital expenditure. There was no satisfactory answer given to the Committee of Public Accounts yesterday as to whether the Department forensically checks the historical and current company accounts and balance sheets of would-be contractors to the Irish Coast Guard.

Earlier, Senator Buttimer asked me to put up or shut up with regard to the numbers. The statistics I have highlighted today are freely available in the public domain. There is no need to hide them. Senator Buttimer also mentioned that this matter had come before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications and that it had declined to pursue it. The legal advice to that committee is that it does fall within the remit of an Oireachtas committee to oversee what is going on in a Department with respect to spending. I call on the Minister of State to write to the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications requesting that it do that. The public has a right to know that the process that is being followed is 100% transparent. As mentioned by many of the speakers today, this is about transparency.

I may be wrong, but I heard anecdotally that during a recent meeting Defence Forces officers were refused entry for fear of corrupting the system. Contrary to what we are being led to believe, the Defence Forces would not have to tender to be part of the search and rescue service. They would be tasked by the Government to do that. The Defence Forces do not tender for anything. If Government wants them to do something, it tasks them to do the job. That is not in breach of any EU regulation and so on.

There is a lot of flattery in this House of the Defence Forces. I am not saying that is the case today necessarily, but there is a lot of flattery of them. The Defence Forces are available 24-7, 365 days of the year, ready, willing and able. The one thing they cannot do, but a private contractor can do, is strike. The Air Corps would not, at any time, be found wanting. I have one thing to say about resilience. We have five Sikorsky S-92 helicopters. What is wrong with having a couple of AugustaWestland AW139s? The answer relates to resilience. If a Sikorsky is grounded due to a technical issue, as happens in aviation, there would be a second line of support in place. Ultimately, the Air Corps should be involved in SAR to protect this State in all circumstances.