Early last year the Minister for Defence authorised an advertisement for tenders from his Department for the supply of helicopters to the Defence Forces. On 6 December 2001, the Minister announced in a press release that he had considered the report of the technical group that had been established in his Department to evaluate tenders received for medium lift helicopters for the Air Corps from four different companies whom he named.
He went on to state that the report demonstrated that all four aircraft on offer met the technical requirements and the Minister had decided all tenderers would be given one week in which to make a best and final price in regard to the helicopters. Subsequently, in a press release on 17 January 2002, the Minister announced that on that day he had authorised his Department to open negotiations with Sikorsky International Operations, Connecticut, USA, for the purchase of three medium range helicopters, S92s, for search and rescue purposes with an option of a further two helicopters for general purpose military transport. The press release recorded that the Minister's decision followed from a detailed examination of the tenders received from the four different companies, including Sikorsky, CHC Scotia of Scotland, EH Industries Limited, UK and Eurocopter of France. The Minister stated that he hoped the contract negotiations would be completed in a matter of weeks, that the White Paper on Defence which was approved by the Government in February 2000 recognised the urgent equipment modernisation requirements in the Air Corps, and that the purchase of medium lift helicopters was a positive indication of the Government's commitment to ensure all branches of the Defence Forces, Army, Air Corps and Naval Service are fully equipped to carry out their day to day roles.
On this side of the House, the urgent need to provide the Defence Forces with the helicopters they required was recognised and we are supportive of the Minister's endeavours. We regard it as a matter of great urgency that the helicopters be supplied and I draw the atten tion of the House to the fact that the three medium range aircraft which were to be ordered initially were for search and rescue purposes. The remaining helicopters related to an option to purchase two aircraft for general military transport purposes. There is a great need to provide helicopters to perform search and rescue operations off our coast and to provide a far better service than we have at present. We need those aircraft to provide the level of service to which we are entitled as are ships which get into difficulty off our coast.
The matter of the purchase of these helicopters again came before this House on 13 February because Eurocopter had taken proceedings against the Minister in the High Court complaining that information to which it was entitled under the Freedom of Information Act had not been supplied. It is now alleged that, instead of proceeding with the negotiations with Sikorsky, the Government intends to re-tender the contract for the supply of helicopters. It is reported that, having gone through the lengthy tendering process of 2001, the Minister proposes to terminate discussions currently taking place between his Department and Sikorsky as a consequence of alleged irregularities in the manner in which the Minister dealt with the original tendering process. This is of serious public concern. If there is to be a new tendering process it will put back by another 12 months' progress to provide helicopters which are badly required by the Defence Forces and it will mean hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money has been wasted in the tendering process to date. It would be a considerable setback in meeting the needs and expectations of the Defence Forces. It is of the utmost importance that the Minister clarifies the current position to the House tonight.