Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Over the past four years, I have spent considerable time expressing my concerns about the search and rescue, SAR, contract that was being negotiated at that time. The Leader will be aware as a Galwegian that the former GP from the Aran Islands has expressed her deep concern that Shannon is now not able to provide 24-hour, 365 day, SAR services.It is only open from 8 o'clock in the morning until 8 o'clock at night.

Sligo was supposed to become operational last Friday and it will not now become operational until possibly April. We are in the situation where a contract has been awarded to a contractor that will cost the taxpayers of this country some €800 million and, if past experience is anything to go by, it will probably cost €1.2 billion, and the contractor is unable to fulfil the commitments. This has gone too far for too long. We already saw the same company involved in Norway trying to short-circuit the changeover time it takes to prepare crews in new aircraft. One life was lost and five people were injured in Norway. I am hearing that there are multiple injuries not being reported in the training that is taking place at the moment in Sligo.

I ask the Leader to call for an emergency debate here. The people of Ireland have a right to know what to hell is going on with respect to the SAR contract for helicopters. Either the company is capable of doing the job or it is not. If it is not doing the job, then we need to go back to the existing contractor, which is taking up the slack for the failure of the new contractor to take over the job.

This is crucial, particularly on the west coast, where the Leader himself is from. There is no cover from Shannon after 8 o'clock in the evening. There is 215 miles of Atlantic coastline to cover, and the coastline of the entire length and breadth of Ireland. It is deeply worrying. The one thing which the House will recall is that during the negotiations for this contract, both the then Ministers, Naughten and Ryan, informed me in writing that they had no oversight of the negotiation of the contract.

I wish to make one final point.