Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for coming to the House to address the glaring anomaly in legislation, or lack thereof, covering the Irish Coast Guard. As a medic on the west coast, I regularly liaise with the Irish Coast Guard and experience first hand the bravery and commitment of its members to serving the public while putting their own lives in danger. On every single call out they are exposed to dangers with which no other workers outside the emergency services are faced. As the Minister is aware, the Irish Coast Guard handles approximately 2,500 marine emergencies a year, assists 4,500 people and saves over 200 lives. It evacuates medical patients from the islands on hundreds of occasions. Irish Coast Guard helicopters are tasked around 800 times per year and the service makes 6,000 marine safety broadcasts to shipping, fishing and leisure crafts.

I am honoured to live and work on the coast with these brave volunteers and members of other emergency services which include the National Ambulance Service, the fire service, the Garda and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, RNLI. When the bleep sounds, as a local general practitioner on call, all of the emergency services work as a collective unit. I have been privileged to take part in rescues at sea, on trawlers of Spanish fishermen and at the edge of cliffs, but,, sadly, there have also been drownings. When a casualty is taken ashore and dispatched via road in an ambulance or via an air ambulance and the emergency services discuss matters on the pier or wherever else, all of the responders are not treated fairly. That is the issue I have. I support the call for the Irish Coast Guard to be designated as a stand-alone primary response agency. On a daily basis its members sacrifice and place themselves at the peril of the Atlantic Ocean and the dangers of the jagged coastline. It is within the Minister's remit to legislate for this cohort of volunteers to put them on the same footing as other emergency service personnel. I am calling on him to engage personally and purposefully with them. Now is the time for action. There is no point in lauding them and telling them what we think of them. The fact of the matter is that there is a two-tier health system and we now have a two-tier emergency response service. Members of the Irish Coast Guard are being disenfranchised and treated differently from other emergency responders.This is unfair. It is time to show these heroes some respect. I invite the Minister to engage purposefully with them and to visit the west coast of Ireland in order to see, at first hand, the work they do so bravely. I think his eyes would be opened if he did so.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank Senator Swanick for raising this very important issue. I am aware of the interest in it in this House and in the Lower House. We certainly have one thing in common, namely, a very healthy and large admiration for the work of this extraordinary group of people. I have expressed that in many quarters, and in some tragic circumstances, recently. At the very least, that is something we can both express in this House.

In the recent past, I received a number of requests to introduce legislation in respect of the Irish Coast Guard, a division of my Department, most notably in correspondence I received from some Irish Coast Guard volunteers. I would like the record to show that my Department and I have the utmost respect for the volunteers who give their free time to provide a search-and-rescue service on behalf of the Irish Coast Guard. Their devotion to serving their communities must be commended and admired. The latter cannot be repeated often enough.

I welcome this opportunity to address some of the issues and concerns which have been raised and which have been expressed to me through correspondence. It is true that the Irish Coast Guard is not an established legal entity. It is, as I have said, a division of my Department. It was established thus under a Government decision in 1990, initially as the Irish Marine Emergency Service. The name was changed to the Irish Coast Guard in 2000. The division was subsequently transferred from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to the Department of Transport in 2006.

The Irish Coast Guard has a number of functions, including search and rescue and maritime pollution prevention and response. I am satisfied that the Irish Coast Guard, as a division of my Department, has sufficient powers to carry out its functions. These are augmented by the various items of merchant shipping and sea pollution legislation to which I previously referred in the Dáil. These Government decisions, the Irish maritime search-and-rescue framework and legislative provisions are aligned with the accepted provisions of international law, namely, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This administrative and legal framework establishes the search-and-rescue function as a State function, with the Irish Coast Guard designated as responsible for maritime search and rescue. It further defines the jurisdiction and legal authority of the rescue co-ordination centres with relevant standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Maritime Organisation.

As I have already stated, the volunteer element of the Irish Coast Guard has expressed concerns regarding its legislative standing. However, I am of the view, in light of the context which I have just set out, that there is no need to place the Irish Coast Guard on any additional statutory footing. Indeed, it is difficult to identify any specific need for legislation or to establish what would be the purpose of any legislation. Legislating for a voluntary group would give rise to very complex matters. In all probability, the volunteer sector would not be covered under any such legislation, as is evidenced by the Civil Defence Act, which does not contain any provisions in respect of its large volunteer force. The same applies to matters such as training standards, which are dynamic and constantly evolving and which are not, therefore, an appropriate subject for legislation.

The marine rescue co-ordination centres have been in existence for many decades and operate on the basis of international law and international recognised standards. It is difficult to see what advantage would derive from further legislation. Finally, the helicopter search-and-rescue facility is provided to the Irish Coast Guard under commercial contract to which company law applies and it could not, therefore, be legislated for in any other way.

Finally, I assure Senators that there are no plans to diminish Irish Coast Guard services or reduce the number of active stations, which is a concern that has been voiced. The location, distribution and response service provided by Irish Coast Guard assets are kept under continuous review with a view to development and improvement in the delivery of search and rescue services around the country.

Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail)
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With the greatest respect to the Minister, I fundamentally disagree with the sentiments he has expressed. There is a need to put the Coast Guard on a statutory footing and that response could have been e-mailed to me, quite frankly. I ask the Minister to engage personally with the Coast Guard, to meet its representatives face to face and listen to their real and valid concerns. I also extend an invitation to the Minister to come and visit the west coast to see what these people do at first hand. They risk their lives to the peril of the sea every day and it would be a worthwhile visit.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I accept the Senator's invitation and thank him for it. It is open to me, as the Minister in charge, to go there at any time but I would be delighted to go with the Senator. Yes, the response could have been e-mailed to the Senator and his contribution could also have been e-mailed to me. That is absolutely correct but I have come before the House to give the response in public. My Department is very aware of the resourcing issues within the Coast Guard, including the requirements to augment support of the Coast Guard units. I am conscious of the difficulties involved. I have given the reasons why I cannot meet the Senator's requests at this time, but I would be very happy to engage in further dialogue with him on a visit in the future.

John O'Mahony (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister and the Senator. We await the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan.