Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I wish to express my condolences to the family of Acting Sergeant Major Declan "Doc" O'Connell from the Curragh. Sadly, he is the second from the Cadet School in recent times to lose his life. They are going through tough times down there.

Last week, I spoke about the helicopter that was forced to land in Derry as a result of an emergency declared by the pilot. I got a reply from the Minister's office that tells me the area the helicopter flew into had already suffered turbulence. A Boeing 737 had experienced turbulence in that area two hours previously. This brings me on to the organisation that operates those helicopters. I announced in this House a couple of weeks ago that the company concerned had shown in its accounts for 2020 and 2021 that it was insolvent. The accounts showed losses of €6 million over the two years. The company paid very little corporation tax over the period. On looking at the payments being made to the company, I note these are averaging at around €6.1 million or €6 2 million per month. I am trying to figure out where all this money is coming from, because the original contract was for €500 million over ten years, which is about €4.2 million a month. I asked the Department if the company was charging for training exercises and for the transportation of patients from the islands to the hospitals. I was told that I could not have the information because it was commercially sensitive. I was not told that we do not pay for it. I was told in recent months that some in the organisation refer to training exercises as "search and revenue" rather than "search and rescue". If it is true that pilots are being put under pressure to carry out training exercises, then we have a serious problem. I repeat my call on the Minister to come to this House and engage in a debate. We need to find out exactly what is going on in this company. There is a contract up for renewal right now. It is vitally important that we know exactly what was contracted for in the first instance and second, how that contract has been managed to date. Six-odd million euro a month is an awful lot of money.