Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Keogan.

I was delighted to hear that Rescue 117 in Waterford has been saved. We now have four SAR bases in the country that are guaranteed by the Government. That is welcome and I thank all the Members of this House and the Lower House who got behind that campaign to ensure that we kept four helicopters. I have asked on a number of occasions for the business case for this to be released. This is part of the reason we asked for the debate in this House. The Air Corps was assessed as providing one base in the country. In order to provide that base, it was expected to have three helicopters rather than five for four bases, to be available 100% of the time rather than 95% of the time and to fund spare parts at a premium of 60% above that which would be charged to a commercial supplier. I can see no reason why the Irish Air Corps would not provide the fixed-wing element, but it looks like we are going to have a fixed-wing element provided from the UK. That aircraft will be flying across Ireland with sophisticated surveillance technology on board. None of this makes sense. In agreeing to have four helicopters for SAR or four helicopter bases, we have altered the business case that was put together to form the pre-qualification questionnaire in the first place. In addition, they added on the fire-fighting equipment after the business case was put together. Everything about this is shambolic. It seems to be a case of making it up as we go along. It is vitally important that the business case is published and that we have an open debate in this House. It is not the Minister or any politician that is making these decisions. Sadly, politicians are losing the plot when it comes to civil servants taking major decisions. The cost over ten years is €1 billion. We need this opened up to debate.