Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to second what Senator Fitzpatrick has said on acknowledging the 40th anniversary of LAMA. I would welcome the executive and the wider group of local authority members coming to meet the Members of the House. I have no doubt everybody here feels the same.

This my second time this week raising the issue of co-ordination in respect of local authorities. At home in Portumna, we have a rescue boat for the River Shannon. For any colleagues who do not know, Portumna is at the mouth of Lough Derg. The rescue boat is operated by the local authority. The crew members from the retained firefighters are trained to a very high level in how to launch the boat and do rescue procedures. Lough Derg is the widest of the three lakes on the Shannon so the rescue boat could also support and be of great value to Offaly County Council, down towards Banagher. If we are going down to Killaloe, it will be of huge support to Clare and if we have to go over to Terryglass, it is of huge support to the people of Tipperary. Other than that, our nearest launch rescue boat is actually down in the mouth of Limerick, which would have to come all the way up. That is operated by the RNLI. It is not that we do not want to wait for the RNLI, but we have trained people with the proper materials to provide support to a vehicle that has had an accident on the Shannon and run aground or somebody who might have accidentally fallen overboard. Time is always of the essence when a tragedy happens. I ask again that we have the Minister responsible for local government come to the House to discuss standardisation issues. I raised chainsaws yesterday and am raising rescue boats today. I would really welcome the opportunity.