If I am to achieve my objective, which is to obtain from the Minister an allocation of funding, I must convince him of a number of points: first, that a human resource is in place with the training, skill and expertise to maximise the return on the proposed investment; second, that the area requires the investment sought; and third, that this is the right time for such investment.
The Irish Marine Emergency Service station at Crosshaven is run by volunteers from all walks of life who have a wealth of local knowledge and expertise. They consist of master mariners, advanced first aiders, fire fighters and divers. They are all competent sea people and are trained in search and rescue techniques. Most importantly, they are willing to give up the comfort of their homes for the danger of saving lives at sea. Like the lifeboat servicemen and women of the RNLI, they are willing to put their lives at risk to help people in distress at sea or on our coastline. Where the services of the IMES are required, the volunteers should be provided with the equipment necessary to do their job properly.
In the event of an emergency in Cork Harbour the IMES, when alerted, is at its station within three minutes. The volunteers are efficient and take their job seriously. However, they are hopelessly ill-equipped. The most difficult resource for a rescue service is the human resource, which is already in place, but how can a marine emergency service, with responsibility for an area the size of Cork Harbour, do its job properly without even a boat?
When deciding whether investment of this kind is required for this IMES unit, we must look at the demand for the service in the area. Cork Harbour is the centre of marine activity on the south coast but if one looks at a map of the lifeboat stations of Ireland, there is a gap in the Cork region between Ballycotton and Courtmacsherry. This is crazy because Cork Harbour is by far the busiest marine centre in the area. The harbour has a large number of multinational companies on its coastline, gas and oil refining plants, supplied by tankers, international and domestic ferry services, an increasing fishing fleet, and hugely increased sporting activity. On any given weekend in the summer there would be in excess of 1,000 people on the water from Crosshaven alone, between yacht clubs, rowing clubs, diving clubs, fishing, angling, windsurfing, water-skiing, canoeing, etc., as well as a large number of people on beaches and walking on cliffs.
This IMES unit does not cover Crosshaven alone but also the River Lee, Kinsale and as far as the Seven Heads. The nearest lifeboat station is between 50 and 55 minutes away by sea, at either Courtmacsherry or Ballycotton. The RNLI says it cannot afford a new station in Cork Harbour, so it appears that will not go ahead. The IMES Crosshaven wants a fully equipped in-shore inflatable, which it thinks will cost in the region of £30,000, less than half what the RNLI would spend on a similar craft. This is a modest request which would allow the IMES go to sea when it needs to in a well-equipped vessel.
It makes a great deal of sense to have such a boat in the harbour area. Numerous relatively minor incidents occur in the harbour and these could be dealt with by the IMES but instead many of them escalate into major incidents which result in the RNLI being called out at great expense. The Government has a responsibility to provide the people of Cork with a decent rescue service. The human resource is already in place, the service has a premises, the volunteers are willing to work and are incredibly dedicated – I know many of them personally. All they want is a small investment and they are even willing to accept half the total and to raise the other half themselves.
I ask the Minister to look sympathetically on this request. I have spent a great deal of time in Cork Harbour and it has never been as busy as it is now. It needs a rescue service. It is not good enough to provide facilities from either Ballycotton or Courtmacsherry.
