Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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233. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 556 of 20 November 2018, if the draft air accident report into Rescue 116 has been completed and circulated for comment; if the process has been completed; if not, when it will be completed; and when he expects the report to be published. [7543/19]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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As per International Convention, EU Regulation and domestic Law relating to accident investigation, it is required that, if the final report into an air accident investigation cannot be made public within 12 months, the safety investigation authority (SIA) shall release an interim statement at least at each anniversary of the accident or serious incident, detailing the progress of the investigation and any safety issued raised. As stated in response to Parliamentary Question No. 556 of 20 November 2018, a Interim Report (2018-004) into the tragic fatal accident of Rescue 116 was issued by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of my Department on 16 March 2018. On information provided by the Chief Inspector of Air Accidents, I can tell the house that at this time a draft air accident investigation report into Rescue 116 has not been completed or circulated. However, a second Interim Report will be issued by the AAIU just prior to the second anniversary of the accident (14 March 2017) outlining the current status of the investigation and progress made to date.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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234. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views regarding the manner in which the national search and rescue, SAR, framework operated in the search for Rescue 116; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7545/19]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The National SAR Framework is a document which sets out various roles and responsibilities of the various entities involved in Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue in Ireland, many of whom were involved at an operational level in the search for R116. I am not aware of any concerns arising from the manner in which that search was conducted that would be relevant to the National SAR Framework document.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit’s investigation into the causes of the accident continues and it is vital that they are given the time and space to complete their work. Their interim statement last March called for a review of oversight of Search and Rescue (SAR) aviation operations in Ireland. This was completed last September by independent international expertise (the AQE Report). A key recommendation in that report was to undertake a major review of the SAR Framework document. This is currently underway under the independent Chairmanship of Sir Alan Massey, ex CEO of the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency. As the AQE Report explains, search and rescue oversight and regulation is a complex matter, and international regulation is still endeavouring to keep pace with practice on the ground. However in implementing its recommendations, and, particularly, this major review of the SAR Framework document, Ireland has an opportunity to make meaningful improvement to our current oversight structures, and in doing so set a benchmark for other jurisdictions.