Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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282. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide a breakdown of the number of call-outs of each of the coastguard units in County Louth in 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013; the number of fatalities that occurred during each of these years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35597/13]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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284. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the average coastguard call out time for emergencies which occur in the sea in the vicinity of Clogherhead from the Greenore coast guard and from the Drogheda coas tguard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35599/13]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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285. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the length of shoreline and nautical miles which are covered by each of the Coastguard units in County Louth. [35600/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 282, 284 and 285 together.

There are three Coast Guard Units in Co. Louth at Greenore, Clogherhead and Drogheda. Details of the number of call-outs in 2011, 2012 and 2013 are as follow:

The Coast Guard does not hold details of the number of fatalities per Unit; rather an overall national figure is recorded. This information will take longer to compile and will be forwarded to the Deputy when completed.

All Units of the Irish Coast Guard are expected to able to muster and send out a first response team from their Station Houses with 15 minutes of activation of their pagers. Each Unit is expected to be able to organise a full Unit response within 1 hour. Clogherhead to Greenore by road takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and to Clogherhead from Drogheda is 20 minutes.

Depending on the extent of the incident and the search period involved the Units may be tasked to assist in each other's area, and they may also assist the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency in border areas when requested. There is also RNLI unit in Clogherhead equipped with an All Weather Lifeboat, which is a declared resource for the Coast Guard.

The shoreline length in Co. Louth is 85.22kms (52.95 mls). However, the operational area of the Units are not defined strictly by reference to length of shore line. From a shore search perspective the Drogheda Unit primarily covers the River Boyne and south towards Bettystown, the Clogherhead Unit mainly covers Dundalk Bay and the Greenore Unit mainly covers Carlingford Lough. Drogheda and Greenore Coast Guard inshore boats cover the patrol area meeting at around Dunany Point.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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283. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 752 of 12 February 2013, if he will give consideration to the provision of a D Class RNLI-built boat for the volunteer coastguard unit based in Clogherhead, County Louth; the cost to the State for the provision of such a boat and the appropriate training required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35598/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Primary maritime search and rescue services in the Clogherhead area are provided by the Clogherhead RNLI All Weather Lifeboat.  This service is supplemented for inshore cover by two Coast Guard Boat Units based in Drogheda and at Greenore. In addition, there is a shoreline search unit Volunteer Coast Guard Unit based in Clogherhead . The area is also serviced by the Dublin Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116.

Having regard to resources already available, provision of a D Class boat for the Clogherhead unit is not considered a priority at this time. The Coast Guard continues to keep the situation under review and if it is considered that another inshore boat is required in the future then the necessary discussions would take place with the RNLI in the first instance.

Basic set up costs to establish a D Class RNLI boat, excluding on-going operating, maintenance, training and inspection costs, would be in the region of €65,000 for the boat, with a further €30,000 for personal safety and protection equipment and €35,000 for towing vehicle, i.e. some €130,000 in total. The lead time for crew training would be of the order of 12-18 months estimated at €1,500 per person.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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286. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of radio officer positions which remain vacant across the coastguard services as a result of the recruitment embargo; if he will provide the location of these positions; the steps he has taken to address these issues; and if these vacancies have led to a diminution of service. [35601/13]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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287. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide a breakdown of the vacancies that currently exist within the coastguard services across the State as a result of the Government's recruitment embargo. [35602/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 286 and 287 together.

The Irish Coast Guard has continued to operate the 3 rescue co-ordination stations in Dublin, Malin Head and Valentia. While the public services recruitment embargo has presented challenges, new arrangements for the operation of the centres on an interoperable basis, together with investment in new technologies and new operational arrangements will enable the Coast Guard to maintain the required level of services utilising some 40 radio officer posts across the 3 stations.There are a total of 38 radio officer positions filled at this time and arrangements are now in hand to fill the outstanding 2 positions.