Síle de Valera
Question:282 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for the Marine his views on whether there has been a downgrading in the West Coast Search and Rescue Service off Shannon since 1 January 1997. [6474/97]
Vol. 476 No. 2
282 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for the Marine his views on whether there has been a downgrading in the West Coast Search and Rescue Service off Shannon since 1 January 1997. [6474/97]
283 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for the Marine his views on whether it is satisfactory that the service for the west coast search and rescue supplied by Bond at Shannon is restricted in its missions in view of the fact that it is not equipped with an auto-hover which was to be in place by 28 February 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6475/97]
284 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for the Marine if he intends to invoke the penalty clause in relation to the West Coast Search and Rescue Service which Bond was allowed to introduce if it could not meet the performance required of having the contract helicopter in operation by 28 February 1997. [6476/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 282, 283 and 284 together.
I announced on 2 Auguest 1996 that the Government had approved the award of a contract to Bond Helicopters (Ireland) Ltd., for the provision of a marine emergency helicopter including search and rescue based at Shannon Airport. The contract commenced on 1 January 1997, on the expiry of the previous contract with Irish Helicopters Ltd., and is for a minimum period of two and a half years with an option to extend for up to five years. Bond advised my Department on 20 February 1997, in accordance with their contractual obligations, that the fully compliant helicopter with auto-hover, which was to be delivered to Shannon by 28 February 1997, was now expected to be in service by the middle to end of March 1997. The delay in the delivery of this helicopter arose from an electrial design fault identified during a recently completed independent quality check. Adverse weather conditions have also hampered flight testing. The fault has since been remedied and flight testing has resumed. The Bond helicopter development programme, which commenced after the contract award in Auguest 1996 and has been the subject of close monitoring and regular review by the Department, was fully on schedule up to this recent development.