Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 105: To ask the Minister for Transport if the jobs that were proposed for Malin Head and Valentia in the Deloitte and Touche report will be realised; if not, the reason for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33087/07]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Transport when the decision was taken to reject the proposals set out in the Deloitte and Touche report to expand the Malin Head and Valentia Coast Guard Stations; the person who had the responsibility for making this decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33089/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 105 and 113 together.

The Deloitte and Touche Irish Coast Guard Study made over one hundred recommendations for the future development of the Coast Guard service having regard to international best practice and value for money. Many of these recommendations have already been implemented by the IRCG.

A number of the recommendations are strategic in nature. One of these is the recommendation to reduce the number of rescue co-ordination centres from the current three to two. It was recommended that each location should be capable of supporting the entire IRCG national network and the building of two new centres was put forward as an option. The decision on location was left to the Department. Further recommendations detail the requirements for the centres, covering matters such as equipment, layout and environment. The decisions I took recently were made against the background of the Deloitte and Touche study and the Decentralisation Programme.

I consider that the communications system is the backbone infrastructure on which Coast Guard operations depend. It is essential that it is of high quality, efficient, effective and that it provides value for money. I am concerned at the state of the present equipment and have confirmed that a €2 million investment in essential equipment should proceed without any further delay. I also confirmed that this equipment should be sufficient to operate two fully manned Co-Ordination centres. Each centre will have the capability to run the entire Coast Guard network which will allow for a seamless transfer of co-ordination should one centre become suddenly unworkable for any reason. I also confirmed that locating one on the east coast and one on the west coast is the preferred option and that the east coast centre should be co-located with the HQ for operational reasons.