Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On 31 August, I wrote to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, following a request from a member of the public about tender documents that had been released by the Department of Transport for the procurement of consultancy services for search and rescue services. My letter questioned why there were two very similar tenders in the marketplace. The first detailed tender issued in June and closed on 31 August. The second tender, which seemed to be for the same job, required less expertise and closed recently.

In my letter, I questioned how these tenders would be adjudicated on given that we have no aviation expertise within the Department of Transport despite this being a key recommendation of the air accident investigation unit, AAIU.By way of reply, I received a letter from the Secretary General of the Department of Transport in which he states the following:

That document is not in the public domain. It was provided only to entities who passed Stage 1 of the process ... Your possession of that document is a cause for serious concern. Consequently, officials from this Department, at my request, have consulted the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and the Office of the Attorney General.

In order to protect the integrity of the procurement process I wish to ask you: how did you come into possession of this confidential R[equest] F[or] T[ender]? I also request that you would not read, print, copy or circulate this document to any other third party. Please delete from your email system any emails or attachments where the R[equest] F[or] T[ender] can be found electronically and destroy any hard copies if any have been made.

As public representatives, all Members of this House will, from time to time, receive documents and possibly questions which are of concern to members of the public. I believe we are obliged to bring the concerns of the public to the relevant Minister or Ministers. That is exactly what I have done. I have to say I was rather shocked by the intimidating reply from the Secretary General of the Department.

We are living in stressful times. Nothing is more certain. The report of the fatal crash of Rescue 116 provides indisputable evidence of a litany of reckless behaviour and failings on the part of the Department of Transport, the Irish Coast Guard and the operator of this vital service. Changes were recommended. Equally, our taxpayers need to be protected from decisions which lead to poor value for money. The Department of Transport and the Irish Coast Guard have been shown to be lacking in their capacity to remain an intelligent customer for aviation in general and in search and rescue, SAR, in particular. Yet, instead of complying with the recommendations of the AAIU, they still have no aviation expertise and instead rely on consultants. The Department can tender for experts to minimise risk but it cannot tender out responsibility. I am disturbed that any civil servant would be unaware of the Howlin v.Morris judgment on the private papers of Members and would feel he or she could use his or her position to intimidate a Member or a public representative-----