Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to advise the House that I am constrained by procurement law in publicly discussing matters relating to a live procurement process. For that reason, I will not be in a position to disclose any information relating to the procurement specifications or anything that is commercially sensitive or integral to this process. In addition, I reiterate that the Government is acutely aware that all major procurements must be managed in a compliant manner and that, to that end, safeguards are in place to ensure that the process is undertaken in conformity with procurement law. A representative of the Chief State Solicitor's office is a dedicated adviser to the Department's project team for this particular procurement process and is advising on the process for and the preparation of all tender documents, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General. In addition, a procurement process auditor, with the express task of providing assurance to the Secretary General, as Accounting Officer, on the conduct of the procurement process, has been appointed. The assurances provided by the auditor to date are published on my Department's website.

As I have stated previously in this House, the provision of an effective maritime search and rescue service is critical to Ireland as an island nation with a strong maritime sector. The sector depends on the reliability and professionalism of the Irish Coast Guard and all its component parts, including the Coast Guard aviation service, to offer a service which can deploy at a moment's notice to rescue people in distress and to bring them to a place of safety. The Irish Coast Guard has a distinguished record in delivering search and rescue services and a wide range of other essential aviation services for many decades, including the co-ordination and management, as appropriate, of aviation services delivered by the Air Corps and civil operators.

The next aviation service contract allows the Coast Guard to meet its obligations as prescribed in the national search and rescue, SAR, plan and the national oil and hazardous noxious substances, HNS, contingency plan as well as its capacity to support other State agencies, in particular inland search and rescue support to An Garda Síochána and provision of air ambulance services to the HSE, including day and night support to the island communities.

The issues raised by Senator Craughwell have been comprehensively addressed during previous debates in this House and through direct correspondence with him.

I assure the House that the competition for the next aviation contract will be run in accordance with the public spending code and procurement law. It is imperative that a suitable contract be in place quickly to meet our obligations to protect lives, to support communities and the maritime sector, to deliver on the national search and rescue plan and to provide value-for-money services to the citizen.