Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, for coming to the House. As she comes from a coastal county, as I do, she is appreciative of the work of the Coast Guard right around the country. From seeing it in action, I know the work of the Courtown-Arklow Coast Guard. The Coast Guard group based in Courtown Harbour is unusual in that it actually covers parts of two counties. It covers the area from Brittas Bay in County Wicklow down as far as Cahore, so it is a large area of sea. There is a crew of about 22 who are male and female. They have given good service to our community over a long period of time. The challenge is the Coast Guard building in which they are operating. It is a small rocket house type building that was constructed during the 1920s. It is a single room with no toilet or welfare facilities.

As I said it is a mixed, male and female, crew. They all have to change within the one facility. You will appreciate the difficulty, particularly if they have gone out on a mission at sea and have come back in wet, tired and, in many cases, they must bring some of their equipment and so on back home. They have no toilet so they have to use the public toilet facilities in Courtown Harbour which are a little bit away from where the rocket house is located.

This has been a long-running issue around trying to get new facilities for the Coast Guard. As I am sure the Minister of State is aware from her Department, efforts were made with Wexford County Council and potential county council sites were identified. Some of the sites were found to be unsuitable while in regard to other sites, the council decided to make use of them itself. Recently, a potential private site was identified by the Coast Guard to the Office of Public Works, OPW.

I am raising this as a Commencement matter today, and this reflects my frustration and that of the Coast Guard locally, because, in spite of several efforts to get answers around progress from the OPW as to where this is at, we have not been able to find out. We have much sea-based activity going on and the north Wexford area is rapidly growing in terms of population. Significant numbers of people come into our community for holiday purposes and, unfortunately, that means occasionally we see incidents at sea. The Coast Guard is essential in keeping all of us safe in our waters.

I ask that this be regarded as a matter of urgency. If the Minister of State has good news for me today, I will be very grateful but at the very least, we would appreciate an update.