Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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The Minister of State is welcome to the House. I think this is the first time I addressed him since he was elevated to ministerial office. I am delighted he is here, and I understand the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is unwell with Covid-19 and I wish him well, but it is deeply regrettable the junior Minister at his Department is not here to take this issue.

The Minister of State will be aware of the fact that four brave crew members of the contracted helicopter search and rescue service lost their lives when Rescue 116 crashed at Black Rock, County Mayo, in 2017. He will no doubt be further aware that all four were flying with inaccurate charts, faulty satellite locators and must have been suffering from fatigue due to the demanding 24-hour shift work rosters under which they were operating. Among other things, the Air Accident Investigation Unit report pointed out dysfunctional oversight of search and rescue and alleged safety management failures by the Irish Coast Guard and CHC Ireland, the air crew's employer.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit, on its website, published on 5 November 2021 some 44 safety recommendations and it advised that in all 44 cases, it is still awaiting a response.Like me, I am sure the Minister of State would want to ensure that those who put their lives in peril to serve in what must be the greatest calling, that is, to save human life, should have their safety and working conditions at the highest level of priority for Ministers and their Departments. Some 22 of the recommendations advert specifically to CHC Ireland, the operator. In addition to that, most worrying is the fact that the Air Accident Investigation Unit points out that neither the Irish Coast Guard nor the Department of Transport have any aviation expertise within their staff. The AAIU also points to the 24-hour shift cycle and refers to fatigue and risk management. I believe that the crew of Rescue 116 had been operating for some 16 or 17 hours before being called out. Again, the AAIU refers to the poor level of lighting in the cockpit.

It is no secret that for two and a half years I have been speaking on this issue and on the reckless behaviour that is taking place in search and rescue. I know that one of the helicopters is situated in the Minister of State's constituency and that he has a close affinity with the people who work in that area. It is great that we do. However, these people need more than our congratulations. We need to know that the Department has staff who are capable of overseeing the contract. Right now, the contract for search and rescue is being overseen by a company that is a single operator. It does not inspire confidence.

I brought with me today the recommendations of the Air Accident Investigation Unit. It is no secret that this report took years to get published. The report contains 44 recommendations and months later, the AAIU has said there has been no response to them. Some of the recommendations are simple, administrative matters that need to happen. If the operator is still operating a 24-hour shift roster, why is that the case? On 1 June an instruction came out from the Irish Aviation Authority restricting flying rosters to 12 hours. If a 24-hour roster is still in place, why is that the case? It needs to stop. I can see the Acting Chairman is about to hit the bell so I will take my seat for a moment.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for Transport thanks Senator Craughwell for raising this matter. As the Senator outlines, the final report by the Air Accident Investigation Unit into the Rescue 116 accident at Blackrock, County Mayo, on 14 March 2017 was published on 5 November 2021. The report contains 42 safety recommendations, of which 14 were addressed to the Minister for Transport, in the form of individual transmittal letters.

At the time of the publication of the report the Minister for Transport fully accepted the recommendations addressed to him. The Irish Aviation Authority also reviewed and fully accepted the recommendations addressed to it as the national aviation regulator, many of which have already been implemented or are proceeding to full implementation. It is a matter for the Irish Aviation Authority to respond independently to the findings addressed to it.

The Minister for Transport was required to acknowledge receipt of each transmittal letter and inform the AAIU of the actions taken or under consideration and, where appropriate, of the time necessary for their completion and where no action is taken, why this is so. The deadline for this was 3 February this year and the responses were sent to the AAIU on 1 February. The regulations require the AAIU to engage with the addressees of the safety recommendations and any requests for clarification from the AAIU to the Department have been received, considered and dealt with. The Department remains open to any further requests for clarification the AAIU may have.

The responses will be made public on the AAIU website via the associated published investigation report, and in the European safety recommendation information system. This is expected to happen shortly. It should be noted that the Department of Transport did not wait for the publication of the final report in order to implement changes on foot of lessons learned following the accident. Since March 2017, and specifically following receipt of the draft final report in September 2019, the Department, and in particular the Irish Coast Guard, have undertaken a significant programme of change across key areas to take account of issues raised and recommendations addressed to the Minister for Transport.

On foot of the interim report of the Air Accident Investigation Unit, the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport commissioned an independent review of oversight arrangements for search and rescue aviation operations in Ireland. Following publication of the independent review, known as the AQE report, in September 2018, the then Minister committed to implementing its 12 recommendations. As the Senator is aware, the Department of Transport is conducting a formal procurement process for a new Coast Guard aviation service following a detailed appraisal and business case prepared in accordance with the public spending code. The process began in December of last year with the release on eTenders of a pre-qualification questionnaire, PQQ, and response document for candidates to complete. The PQQ set out certain criteria to determine which operators would have the capacity to perform the contract.

Following this, an amendment was issued to the PQQ which specified the number and location of search and rescue, SAR, bases to reflect the existing configuration, namely, four bases at Dublin, Shannon, Sligo and Waterford. The amendment ensured the delivery of wider Government policies concerning balanced and even distribution of State services and investment, in particular the needs of island and rural communities. The PQQ stage of the procurement process concluded last month and both successful and unsuccessful candidates were notified of the outcome of the PQQ evaluation. The procurement process is now moving into the second stage, that is, the request for tenders.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I wonder how we are allowing a Department with no aviation expertise to have any hand, act or part in the next SAR tender services and how we are allowing the Department or the Irish Coast Guard to lead out on the next SAR. Within days of the PQQ to which the Minister of State adverted in his reply being issued, it had to be extended because of the change from three bases to four bases. We are about to move to the tender stage, yet the PQQ at the time did not take account of the new regulation set down by the Irish Aviation Authority, changing from 24-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts. This will significantly impact the payroll costs of the organisation that is contracted to the next SAR service.

The bottom line on this is that it fired out a 415 page submission by the Irish Air Corps to provide SAR with a three-page piece of junk that offers no technological, empirical or statistical evidence to support its conclusions. I am deeply concerned that we are moving to the next contract without any expertise within the Department that is leading out or its sub-unit, the Irish Coast Guard. This is recklessness. I have made my position clear in many emails that have been circulated to all Members of this House.

I do not want to hammer the Minister of State, as it is not his area of responsibility. I very much appreciate the fact that he came here to take this Commencement matter today, but I will not let this matter go. Lives are being put at risk. A total of €400 million of public money is about to be wasted.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Craughwell for his contribution today. The provision of an effective maritime search and rescue service is critical to Ireland as an island nation with a strong maritime sector, which depends on the reliability and professionalism of the Irish Coast Guard and all its component parts, including the Coast Guard aviation service, to offer a service which we all agree can deploy at a moment's notice to rescue people in distress and bring them to a place of safety.

As noted earlier, since receipt of the draft final report in September 2019, the Department of Transport has undertaken a significant programme of change across key sectors to take account of the issues raised and recommendations made at that time. As Senator Craughwell correctly says, the measures fall under six broad categories. The Minister for Transport assures me that he is confident these measures will strengthen the safe conduct of search and rescue operations. I will bring the observations raised by the Senator to the attention of the Minister.