Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. "These things we do that others may live." "That others may live" is the closing line in the para rescue creed. This creed has been adopted as a motto by many search and rescue organisations around the world. I wish to start my contribution on behalf of the Green Party - An Comhaontas Glas by commending all those in the Coast Guard and all services who risk their lives daily in order that others may live. We remember and commend the bravery of Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, Captain Mark Duffy, winchman Paul Ormsby and winchman Ciarán Smith, who tragically lost their lives off the Mayo coast on that fateful night in 2017. Their families and loved ones are foremost in our thoughts today, and I commend the Cathaoirleach on the way he opened these statements and the Minister of State's genuine, sensitive remarks. In my thoughts today are also the family and loved ones of Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas, who died tragically a number of months before her colleagues, in 2016, and Air Corps members Captain Dave O'Flaherty, Captain Michael Baker, Sergeant Paddy Mooney and Corporal Niall Byrne, who died on a similar rescue mission in 1999.

Air accident reports do not assign fault or blame. That is not the purpose of the process. They do provide a factual timeline of the event, critically analyse operating practices, highlight possible contributory factors to an accident and make recommendations for safer practices in the future. I commend our national broadcaster on the way it extrapolated and analysed this report and made it easy to follow and accessible for all. Many have such serious concerns about this issue. The AAIU report into the crash of Rescue 116 is deeply troubling and highlights a number of serious systemic failures by the State, the Coast Guard and the private helicopter operator. Reading this report and the reports into the 2016 and the 1999 accidents, I wonder whether we are learning the lessons of previous tragedies and whether the State is exhausting all its professional responsibilities and taking the matter with the 110% seriousness, the utmost seriousness, that it merits. Ireland's search and rescue system is derived from the Government's adherence to a number of international conventions. These conventions impose obligations on the State to ensure that the necessary arrangements are in place for the rescue of person in distress. Thus, search and rescue is a recognised State responsibility. In all cases, the sole tasking agency for operational missions is a State agency and all operational missions are completed on behalf of the State. While the State has decided to outsource service provision to a private helicopter company, it cannot abdicate its responsibility to those in distress and the brave men and women who provide the service.

The AAIU report concludes that neither the Department of Transport nor the Irish Coast Guard had aviation expertise available and thus lacked the proper capacity to act as intelligent customers in respect of contracted private helicopter operations and auditing. The report also concludes that there was also confusion at State level with regard to responsibility for the oversight of search and rescue operations in Ireland. How is it possible that the State outsourced a vital life-saving service and lacked the ability to act as intelligent customer? The State has long-established aviation expertise in the Department of Defence and the Air Corps, but this was never availed of. Where the State already has an agency with this experience, why were personnel from Air Corps not seconded or transferred to the Irish Coast Guard to provide assistance? I wonder if the State would be better served in having the Irish Coast Guard functions moved to the Department of Defence and all State aviation services managed within one Department.