Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the future of the Dublin Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre in view of the necessity on safety grounds to retain an east coast marine rescue co-ordination centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19948/05]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The decision to transfer the services of the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre from Dublin was taken on foot of a study of the Coastguard undertaken by independent consultants. Reflecting advances in modern communications technologies, the consultants recommended that the Coastguard should operate two control centres as opposed to the three centres that exist at present. Communications technology today is such that the geographical location of the co-ordination centres is less important now than in the past. This approach will have the effect of achieving significant cost savings, thus enabling other elements of the Coastguard service to be developed, which in turn will lead to further improvements in our marine emergency response services nationally.

The objective is that the remaining two centres will be developed to handle all emergencies around our coast, including the Dublin and east coast area, on inland waters and in relation to mountain, cliff and cave rescue.

I would like to emphasise that the capability of the Coastguard to co-ordinate and manage incidents will not be diminished as a result of relocation away from Dublin and I would also like to stress that the decision will not affect the emergency response resources that are available to the Dublin region and the east coast on the ground.