Dinny McGinley
Ceist:4 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Defence the situation regarding the acquisition of medium lift helicopters to replace the cancelled Sikorsky contract; and the proposed timeframe for the acquisition of same. [26152/02]
Ceisteanna – Questions. Priority Questions. - Defence Forces Equipment.
The decision to cancel the tender competition for the acquisition of medium lift helicopters for the Air Corps last July was taken due to budgetary constraints which meant that the level of defence expenditure had to be reduced this year.
The decision was an extremely difficult one for me. I regarded the acquisition of the helicopters for the Air Corps as a priority. I was also aware of the huge effort that had been put into the tender process by Air Corps personnel and of their evident disappointment when the decision not to proceed was announced.
When the decision was made, I asked my officials to initiate a review of the provision of helicopter services, in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, to determine how best to meet the State's obligations in search and rescue, while taking account of the current financial position.
An interdepartmental working group has been established to seek alternate solutions to the funding issue, such as public private partnerships or leasing arrangements, with a view to providing helicopters for the Air Corps by other means. The PPP unit in the Department of Finance is also involved in assessing possible solutions. This work is at an early stage.
I am committed to maintaining the involvement of the Air Corps in search and rescue for the long-term. In this regard, the Air Corps is in the process of acquiring an S61 helicopter to operate in the north west region to replace the existing Dauphin helicopter. The S61 helicopter has been leased by the Irish Coast Guard from CHC Ireland Limited pursuant to existing SAR contracts and has been tasked by the Irish Coast Guard to the Air Corps. The Air Corps will provide the flight crews and the aircraft will be maintained by CHCI. The S61 will operate out of Sligo airport.
Pilot training on the S61, which is being provided by CHCI, is currently ongoing. Subject to operational demands on existing SAR services and the availability of training assets and personnel, it is planned that the helicopter will go operational in early 2003.
Despite the fact that expenditure programmes have now to be prioritised, I will not allow anything to take precedence over the long-term development of the Air Corps' most important resource, its pilots. The main priority for the Air Corps is the purchase of fixed wing training aircraft.
The tender competition for the acquisition of eight trainer aircraft is going well and I am hopeful that I will be in a position to make a substantive announcement on the award of the contract before the end of the year.
It is regrettable that the first casualty of the cutbacks announced by the Department last July was the cancellation of the order for helicopters. The Minister has admitted in his reply that this was a severe blow to the morale of the Air Corps which was looking forward to their delivery. Did the Minister avail of the cutbacks as a useful mechanism for getting out of the rather dubious contract with Sikorsky? I know that Eurocopter initiated court proceedings because it was dissatisfied with the manner in which that contract was given. Will the Minister comment on that?
Is the Minister aware that the International Transport Workers' Federation, representing 600 unions and thousands of seamen and air personnel throughout the world, was surprised at the cancellation of the order. It is concerned about our ability to provide adequate search and rescue services, not alone for our own people but on the international front also. Is the Minister satisfied that we can meet both national and international demands? Also, can he inform us when the four helicopters will be delivered to the Air Corps?
I did not think we would revisit the issue of that contract because it has been comprehensively dealt with in the House. Perhaps the Deputy could suggest how I could save €41 million in six months. What proposals would he put forward and what would he leave out? It is not a simple matter and one has to make serious decisions. I would have preferred to go ahead with the Sikorsky contract if I was in the financial position to do so.
Expenditure on the Air Corps, the hangar, the runway, a contract for the trainer aircraft, a new building for the helicopter wing, the S61 going to the west, the special service commitment scheme for the pilots and a number of ancillary developments, are ample proof of my commitment to the Air Corps. Significant progress is being made notwithstanding that we could not proceed with this particular contract. I am looking forward to developing another way of resourcing helicopters for search and rescue. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural resources is responsible for search and rescue. I am only an agent. We will continue to meet part of the need, a considerable part of which is being met from private sources employed by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural resources. There is always a need to upgrade and that will be done as financial resources permit.