Vol. 504 No. 6
9 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the staffing levels for coast and rescue services; if he has satisfied himself with the present position of the services; and the plans, if any, he has to further develop the services by provision of new equipment and extra personnel. [9427/99]
20 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if he will give details of the coast guard service available; his views on whether it is sufficient; the plans, if any, he has to expand it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12429/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 20 together.
The Irish Marine Emergency Service, IMES, of my Department has 62 full-time staff and 600 volunteers. It manages and operates three co-ordination-communication centres at Dublin, Malin Head and Valentia, 12 remote VHF sites, two voice repeater sites and 50 coastal emergency response stations providing short coverage. The IMES has contracted two civilian Sikorski S61N search and rescue helicopters, one based in Shannon Airport and the second in Dublin Airport.
In addition to its own resources, IMES has a number of declared resources available to it on a 24 hour basis all year round. These include two Air Corps search and rescue helicopters based at Finner, County Donegal, and Waterford Airport, the RNLI, which has 24 lifeboat stations around the coast, and six community in-shore rescue service boats based in strategic locations. While the IMES helicopters are based at Shannon and Dublin Airports and an Air Corps helicopter is based at Finner, they are available on a 24-hour, 365 day basis for emergency response on any part of the coastline. I am satisfied that the level of coverage available on all Irish coasts meets both national and international standards for marine search and rescue operations.
With regard to plans to develop the service, a number of measure are being considered at present. These include the development of IMES as a national coastguard service and the extension of the remit of IMES to cover inland waterways. A VHF digital selective calling system for automatic alerting by vessels in distress is being installed at all VHF remote sites and will be fully operational by the end of this year. Other measures include an expenditure review of IMES, aimed at increasing its efficiency and effectiveness. This has been carried out by consultants and is being examined by my Department's management team; the provision of counter pollution aerial surveillance as a deterrent to polluters and as a means of prosecution and the provision of emergency towage facilities capable of intervening in marine emergency incidents to prevent pollution in our pollution responsibility zone. I have also instituted a major building, restructuring and re-equiping programme for the IMES coastal units and stations. Sites for the expansion of VHF marine radio communications coverage on the north coast, west and north-west coasts are being technically assessed and my Department is currently recruiting four additional personnel, three technical and one administrative.
I congratulate the Minister on the review of efficiency at the IMES, of which I approve. I return to a question I raised in an Adjournment debate in the hope that the Minister may have reconsidered his answer. The busiest marine centre by far on the south coast is Cork Harbour. At present there is no rescue boat in the harbour. Is the Minister aware that on a summer's day in the harbour there may be up to 1,500 people on the water, whether they are fishing, angling, sailing, windsurfing or whatever? In addition, there is no in-shore rescue boat available for the IMES in Crosshaven, despite the presence of human resources and expertise. Is the Minister prepared to make the modest funding necessary to provide an in-shore rescue boat for the area instead of hoping that the RNLI will put a lifeboat into Cork Harbour, which apparently will not happen for a number of years?
I understand the RNLI which serves the IMES system on a 24 hour basis proposes to provide a service in the harbour. We do not want to duplicate its work. If it is being suggested that there are considerable delays, the matter of an inshore rescue boat can be looked at further.
