Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 248: To ask the Minister for Transport if records are maintained by the Irish Marine Search and Rescue outlining the individual times from the time the victims of drowning enter the water to the time the body floats and is recovered. [9832/09]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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One of the responsibilities of the Irish Coast Guard of my Department is to provide a national marine search and rescue response service.

The Coast Guard Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre or Marine Rescue Co-ordination Sub-Centre that receives the emergency call records details of all incidents reported and updates that record as the incident progresses. However our systems do not facilitate the extraction of the particular data mentioned by the Deputy.

There is a wide range of factors to be taken into account. These include the depth of the water, the amount of clothing, the weight of the victim, the level of consumption of food and alcohol, water temperature, the nature of the seabed and other factors. These are considered in managing a Coast Guard operation.

As a very general indication, Coast Guard units would regard searches between 9 and 14 days after an incident in shallow water over the summer as having some potential to result in recovery.