Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

No, not on this occasion. I have taken two already. To come in here and suggest that the civilian provider was subject to rigorous regulation is a nonsense. Go back and read the report on R116 to see what it says.

The bottom line is that there is a business case, which sets out what this contract is expected to do. There is no reason the business case cannot be published. This nonsense that the Government goes on with from time to time about not being able to release something because it is commercially sensitive is rubbish. Mark my words - I will be proven right in this. Not for one minute should the Minister of State tell me that, with the level of responsibility she has over a number of portfolios, she could take the time to analyse this. She simply took her Department's word. She could not possibly have analysed this herself. The Government brings in a company to advise KPMG that is a subsidiary of a potential bidder yet the Minister of State tells me that this is an open and transparent process. How can it be? Aerossurance, the company that the Government brought in to oversee search and rescue services, is one man with three years of trading and no creditors or debtors on his balance sheet. From where is the expertise coming?

As far as I am concerned, the rescue services save lives all the time, and by God we are grateful for them, but it does not matter to the people in the sea who is coming down to collect them and whether that person is from a private operator or a public one.

Senator Ward spoke about the company involved. It sought chapter protection.