Vol. 408 No. 6
1 Mrs. Taylor-Quinn asked the Minister for the Marine if he will outline (a) the stage the preparation and training of personnel involved in the proposed air-sea search and rescue service has now reached and (b) when he expects the new service to be in full operation.
6 Tomás Mac Giolla asked the Minister for the Marine if the contract for the provision of a search and rescue helicopter at Shannon Airport has yet been signed; if not, the reason for the delay, as the decision to accept the tender from Irish Helicopters was announced on 27 February 1991; if a date has been agreed as to when the service will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
41 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for the Marine if he will outline the involvement which the Air Corps will have in the newly proposed Air/Sea Search and Rescue Service; and if he has satisfied himself with the present position.
I propose to take Priority Questions No. 1, and Questions Nos. 6 and 41 together.
The improvement in search and rescue helicopter coverage made by this Government in less than two years is of particular pleasure to me.
Up to September 1989, search and rescue helicopters were deployed only at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel. In that month, on foot of the interim report of the Review Group on Air/Sea Rescue Services, the Air Corps placed a Dauphin helicopter on permanent 24 hour standby for search and rescue at Shannon Airport. At the same time, and in addition to the Dauphin helicopters, they reintroduced the Alouette III helicopter for daylight search and rescue at Casement Aerodrome. The success of those deployments can be gauged by the statistics of rescues performed by the Air Corps since September 1989.
In that time the Shannon helicopter has answered 140 search and rescue calls and saved 74 lives. Fifty-four air ambulance missions were also carried out from Shannon. The operation at Casement has answered 65 search and rescue calls and saved 28 lives. Forty-four night operations have been carried out by the Air Corps.
In the light of the final report of the Review Group on Air/Sea Rescue Services the Government approved a deployment of search and rescue helicopters as follows: a medium-range contract helicopter service to be located at Shannon with an operating radius of 200 nautical miles; the relocation of the Dauphin helicopter service currently provided by the Air Corps at Shannon to Finner, County Donegal, on a 24 hour response basis throughout the year, once the contract helicopter service has been put in place at Shannon; and the deployment of a second Dauphin helicopter at Cork, as soon as practicable, primarily for operation with LE Eithne but to be located at Cork when not embarked on the ship.
At the end of February 1991, I announced that the Government had approved the acceptance of a tender from Irish Helicopters Ltd. for operating the medium range service. The contractor plans to place a Sikorsky S61N helicopter, equipped with search and rescue equipment, winch, marine communications and floodlighting at Shannon in July 1991. There will be a short overlap period during which the Air Corps Dauphin will remain on standby at Shannon while the contractor's staff familiarise themselves with procedures and with the location. The contractor and the Air Corps have already met to plan the changeover in a co-operative and co-ordinated way. The preparation and training of personnel involved in the medium-range helicopter search and rescue service is a matter for the contractor. The contract specification requires that all captains and winch operators/winchmen in the service have previous experience in that role in a search and rescue unit. The contractor informs me that his staff in the search and rescue service are all previously experienced search and rescue personnel and meet the training and experience requirements laid down by my Department. Apart from the need to familiarise themselves with procedures and the location referred to above, no additional training is required.
The contractor has agreed to make a Sikorsky S61N available to Air Corps personnel, if required, for training-type conversion purposes.
The contract documentation is being finalised by the Chief State Solicitor's Office and the solicitors representing the contractor. The finalisation of documentation is proceeding on the legal language of the contract already agreed. I hope to be in a position to sign the contract in the next few weeks. Planning for the introduction of the service is not affected and arrangements are in train for a July start-up date.
The role of the Air Corps in search and rescue will be enhanced under the new deployment. Air Corps helicopters will be deployed at three locations: Baldonnel, Finner and at Cork when not embarked on the LE Eithne. Moreover, in keeping with another recommendation of the Review Group on Air/Sea Rescue Services, full use will be made of Air Corps fixed-wing aircraft to locate targets so as to shorten search time and maximise the range and endurance of helicopters.
I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the Air Corps, the Navy and the Department of Defence on their achievements in this area and record my appreciation of the enthusiasm with which the Air Corps and the Department of Defence have made arrangements for their new responsibilities in the area of search and rescue.
I am glad the Minister hopes to have this service in operation by July and I welcome his announcement. I would like also to take the opportunity of complimenting the Air Corps on the recent work they did in the Clare area when the French fishing vessel was grounded there. I want to compliment the team based in Ballyvaughan on the very effective manner in which they managed to get that boat safely to Cork without causing any damage to the environment in the Galway Bay area.
A number of recommendations were made in the report of the Review Group on Air/Sea Rescue and Search Services. There were nine interim recommendations and over 54 final recommendations. Could the Minister tell the House how many of these are in place right now and when he expects the remainder to be in place?
I want to express my appreciation of the remarks the Deputy has made with regard to the Air Corps and my Department's team at Ballyvaughan in the recent incident with the French ship. If the Deputy would specify what particular one she means, I will do my best to reply.
In relation to Nos. 10, 11 and 12 it says that future recruitment to the IMES should favour those with maritime experience and that light keepers should be eligible for recruitment and their particular expertise recognised. In view of the fact that the lighthouse keepers are being made redundant at the moment, I wonder how many of these people in particular have been recruited or are being considered for recruitment under this system.
To the IMES?
Yes.
The Deputy can be assured that the people mentioned there if they apply will be accorded the kind of preference that is suggested by the group.
Could I ask the Minister——
Let me remind the House again of the need for brevity at this stage.
Will the Minister highlight this issue to the people concerned? Will special consideration be given to redundant lighthouse keepers?
Cognisance will be taken by my Department of the recommendation of the group.
