Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Is lá brónach é sin do gach duine sa Teach seo. Is lá an-bhrónach é do na teaghlaigh freisin. I will take a few short moments to pay tribute to those people and their families. Once I saw this on the agenda last week, I wanted to do this because many people would expect me to. The Irish people have never forgotten this tragedy. When I go to towns like Castlerea and Ballaghaderreen in my own county, people still tell me they were out walking late that night and heard or saw that helicopter going overhead. That comment has been made to me on several occasions. I am sure it is a tragedy that the Fitzpatricks, the Duffys, the Smiths and the Ormsbys left behind will never come to terms with. There is never any closure for a family in situations like this. Nowadays, we often talk about people getting closure. As far as I am concerned, people do not get closure following tragedies such as this.

I welcome the Minister of State coming here and I welcome her statement. We now have the recommendations. Many Members have mentioned the many recommendations. I am not going to go through them again but, like others, I will say that it is really important that we implement all of them as quickly as possible. The Minister of State lives close enough to the sea in Galway. I visit areas by the sea quite a lot every year. She will know as well as I do that - by God - the Atlantic Ocean is vicious when it gets going. That is why we should have everything possible in place for those people. The shortcomings are there with regard to the rock itself and all of that. It really shows that, for an island country, we have not done enough to protect these people to the best of our ability. I hope that following this terrible tragedy and loss of life, we can rectify many of the existing issues and implement the recommendations as quickly as possible. Those people love their jobs. They are very committed and dedicated, as we all know. However, they work in very challenging environments a lot of the time.

I go walking by the sea in Galway and Mayo. I like going along on a windy day because it is great for clearing the mind but, when doing so, people may suddenly spot a rescue helicopter and find themselves all of a sudden thinking of those people going out into the choppy oceans, perhaps to try to save somebody from a boat or somebody who went too far from the coastline and got in trouble. It is only then that people really reflect on how challenging everything is for them. It is really important that we provide the best conditions and put in place everything necessary in respect of safety. I will finish with that. I hope that we can rectify a number of issues that need to be rectified without delay.

Again, my thoughts are very much with the four families. It is particularly tough for two of the families, although it is tough for them all. I was involved with a voluntary choir, the Roscommon Solstice Choir, and we did a remembrance concert for them, close to the part of the sea where it happened but, of course, inland. There were members of each family present. It was a sad evening but uplifting in another way because what we did meant an awful lot to those families. I came away inspired because, despite all their grief, those people were so thankful for the hand of friendship and the evening of remembrance. We think of them in a very special way.