asked the Minister for Communications the reasons a Royal Air Force helicopter had to be used in the rescue of Spanish sailors off the coast of Galway on 18 February 1985; and if he will make a statement on this situation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - RAF Helicopter Usage.
13.
A distress call was received from the Spanish fishing vessel Lembranza by Valentia coast radio station in the morning of 18 February last. An accident on board the vessel, involving a cable snapping, had left one crew member dead and another seriously injured and in need of medical assistance. A helicopter lift-off was required so that the injured man could be brought to hospital for treatment of extensive injuries.
The subsequent medical evacuation procedure was co-ordinated by the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Shannon Airport which is part of my Department. The Lembranza was in position approximately 83 nautical miles off the coast of Galway. As this was beyond the range of the Air Corps' Alouette helicopters, MRCC Shannon requested the assistance of an RAF Sea King helicopter through MRCC Swansea. A helicopter was duly dispatched from the RAF base at Brawdy in South Wales and was accompanied by an Air Corps fixed-wing aircraft from Casement Aerodrome to assist in the search for the casualty and safety reasons.
On reaching the Lembranza the helicopter lowered a doctor and winchman prior to lifting off the injured crewman, who was then brought directly to Limerick Regional Hospital for treatment. The body of the deceased crew member was brought back to Spain by the fishing boat.
It is normal practice, in accordance with the international co-operation which exists in marine search and rescue, to obtain assistance from the RAF in this way in cases where a casualty is beyond the range of the Air Corps helicopters.
I would like to take this opportunity to put on record my deep appreciation of the prompt assistance which we receive from the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force during the incidents off our coasts which require their search and rescue capability.
The Air Corps will start to take delivery of five Dauphin helicopter later this year. When these helicopters are fully operational for search and rescue, they will be able to carry out rescues at distances up to 110 miles from base thus giving much more extensive coverage than is the case at present.
Can the Minister tell us exactly the time that elapsed between the distress call being received and the arrival of the RAF helicopter? Can he clarify the reasons an Irish helicopter could not have been used on that occasion?
I have already told the Deputy the reason——
In a roundabout way.
——that it was out of range for the existing Irish helicopters and that the new helicopters which will be delivered later this year will have a wider range. In relation to the first part of the Deputy's supplementary question, the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre was alerted at 11.20 a.m. and the helicopter reached the Lembranza at 2.30 p.m.
I welcome the announcement by the Minister that we will be receiving delivery of five Dauphin helicopters later this year. But would he not agree that even these Dauphins, or the Alouettes we have at present do not have the necessary capabilities or capacity to operate in the event of very serious disasters or distress calls, such as the distress call which was received off the Galway coast on 18 February last? Would the Minister confirm that a similar situation occurred recently in the case of the Air India disaster off the south west coast, that we had not got the necessary resources to implement a successful rescue mission, when again, we had to depend on the RAF for assistance?
I am very glad that RAF and Royal Navy assistance was so readily available. I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to them, to the Irish Naval Service, the Irish Army, the Irish Air Corps, the Garda, all the emergency services, the people of Cork, every State agency involved who behaved superbly. They deserve our great thanks. Indeed the Indian Government have been profuse in their thanks on their performance. Therefore, I do not think we should have an inferiority complex about having to enlist the help of other countries. We also received help from the US Air Force.
I asked two specific questions and I have not received answers. I should like to be associated with the Minister's remarks about the RAF and their co-operation. But would the Minister not agree that as an island nation, we have not got even one single helicopter with the engine capacity or navigational strength for an ongoing rescue mission? Would he agree that the ones we have are of short strength only; they must go and come back; they cannot remain out there? Could he give us the reasons why the Puma helicopter which was leased from France when we were in Government is no longer leased? Would he not agree that it is vital that we have at least one Puma available to us, an island nation, in order to ensure that we have adequate resources available to us for rescue missions off our coasts?
Those questions ought properly be addressed to the Minister for Defence——
But they were addressed to him and he passed them to the Minister present.
——who has responsibility in this regard. A decision has been taken to acquire five Dauphin helicopters which should be available before the end of the year when our rescue capabilities will be greatly increased.
Would the Minister agree that the Dauphin helicopters will operate off the new naval vessel, that basically their strength is from a solid base on the new naval vessel and that, as a single vehicle of service, they are not sufficiently strong for serious rescue missions?
These questions are more appropriate to the Minister for Defence. As I said in my original reply, the range of the Dauphin helicopters——
They would be more appropriate to the Defence Estimate.
——will be up to 110 miles from base which will greatly improve our present capabilities.
The Minister will agree that things are reasonably serious?
I am calling Question No. 14.