asked the Minister for Defence the amount paid annually to the Commissioners of Irish Lights towards the maintenance and operation of lighthouses in respect of vessels or aircraft owned by his Department.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Lighthouse Service Payments.
59.
No sum is paid to the Commissioners of Irish Lights towards the maintenance and operation of lighthouses in respect of vessels or aircraft owned by my Department.
Under the Merchant Shipping Acts vessels owned by the State are exempt from the payment of "light" dues and such dues are not payable in respect of military or civil aircraft.
60.
asked the Minister for Defence the number of missions to date by Army helicopters to convey injured or ill lighthouse personnel from islands and lightships off the coast; and the amount collected to date from local authorities and the Commissioners of Irish Lights in respect of such services.
The number of missions made to date by Army helicopters to convey injured or ill lighthouse personnel from islands and lightships off the coast is three.
A total of £618 15s 8d was recovered in respect of these missions, of which £139 5s 0d was paid by the Commissioners of Irish Lights in respect of one mission in 1965 and the balance by the Mayo County Council which was the health authority concerned in the case of the other two missions in 1967 and 1968.
61.
asked the Minister for Defence if having regard to the valuable services to the nation rendered by the lighthouse service he will discontinue the practice of requiring that service or the local authority concerned to pay for the conveyance by Army helicopter of injured or ill lighthouse personnel from islands and lightships off the coast.
Under the arrangements for the operation of the helicopter ambulance service, which was established at the request of the Department of Health, the local Health Authority concerned in each case is responsible for the payment of the appropriate charges arising from the provision of a helicopter to convey a sick or injured person to hospital, provided that the request for the helicopter was approved by the Authority. Accordingly, where requests for the conveyance by helicopter of sick or injured lighthouse personnel are approved by the Health Authorities concerned these authorities bear the charges involved. The Commissioners of Irish Lights were advised of this position in February, 1966.
Health Authorities have an obligation to approve medical services for these personnel equally with other citizens who are entitled to such services in accordance with the Health Acts, and the cost of conveying them by the helicopter ambulance service when they are sick or injured would not be a proper charge on the Vote for Defence.
Does the Minister not agree that it is very mean of the Department of Defence, which has the services of the lighthouses for nothing, to seek payment from the Commissioners of Irish Lights and from the taxpayers and ratepayers in general, from local health authorities, for mercy missions which they are occasionally asked to perform for the relief of injured and ill personnel of the Irish Lighthouse Service?
We act as agents in this service and the service is paid for on a certain basis. The helicopter is asked for by the local authorities if they wish to move sick people and it is on that basis that this service is provided. So far as we are concerned we do not think that payment for the service should be borne by the Department of Defence.
Is the Minister not just seeking refuge behind statutory rules and regulations? Is the position not that in the first case in which payment was demanded from the Commissioners of Irish Lights and paid for the reason was that they were not aware of the fact that they could escape payment by transferring the responsibility to local health authorities? In fact, it does not matter who orders the helicopter the service is one that I think the Commissioners of Irish Lights and the lighthouse personnel have every reason to expect the Department of Defence and the Irish nation to render for nothing for the personnel who lead very lonely and difficult lives on lightships and islands off our coasts.
Why salt the taxpayer? Why not charge it to the British Exchequer?
The taxpayer is being salted. The simple truth is that the real cost is negligible because the Defence personnel are being paid anyway and the helicopter is also in existence. The only additional actual cost involved is that of the petrol consumed between the time the helicopter leaves the aerodrome and the time it gets back. In heaven's name why cannot the Department of Defence do this thing out of its own resources without imposing it on the unfortunate ratepayers in some of the poorer counties on the western seaboard which is what is being done?
The provision of a helicopter service is a very expensive business. It costs the taxpayers of this country a fairly considerable amount of money and we have had questions in this House regarding the cost of the services.
This is a scandalous business. You are getting a whole lot of service from the lighthouses for nothing and giving nothing back.
The lighthouses give that service to ships of all nations.
They do.
And they pay nothing either.
Yes, they do.
Many of the lighthouses are outside our territorial limits and the ships sail under the British flag. Deputy Ryan appears to be anxious to save the British Exchequer at the cost of the Irish taxpayer.
If Deputy MacEntee is right which I am sure the Minister, like myself, very much doubts, how does any county council in Ireland have any responsibility for any personnel on islands outside the territorial limit? Is he now suggesting that Irish ratepayers should pay for the rescue of people on islands which are not part of the national territory?
An Leas Cheann-Comhairle
Question No. 62.
I caught him there.