The Irish coastguard has contracted two civilian Sikorski S61N search and rescue helicopters, one based in Shannon Airport and the second in Dublin Airport. These helicopters are available on a 24 hour 365 day basis for emergency response on any part of the coastline. Their call-out response time is not more than 15 minutes between 7.30 am and 9 .00 pm and not more than 45 minutes outside these times throughout the year. They are positioned so that they can reach, by day, 40 nautical miles off-shore in one hour and by night or in bad weather, 100 nautical miles in two hours. Search and rescue missions continue to be undertaken by the Air Corps helicopters at Finner, County Donegal and Waterford Airport.
Additional resources of the Irish coastguard are 65 full-time staff and over 600 volunteers. The coastguard manages and operates three co-ordination/communication centres at Dublin, Malin Head and Valentia, 12 remote VHF sites, two voice repeater sites and 52 coastal emergency response stations providing shore coverage.