Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 16 Jun 2022
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Transcript
The air accident investigation report into the fatal crash of Rescue 116 and the loss of four very brave search and rescue operators and the subsequent inquest has laid bare the failures of the contract, the failures of oversight, the failures of all of the agencies involved and indeed it goes back to when the contract was put together. The absence of aviation expertise in both the Department of Transport and the Irish Coast Guard are serious failings, failings that have yet to be addressed by both agencies but during the inquest evidence was given into the problems that occurred that night and one of the problems that was that occurred was the getting of top cover As we know once an aircraft goes beyond a certain distance it loses communications with the mainland and they require top cover in order to act as a rebroadcast station Because the contract and because the setting up of the search and rescue for the 10 year period did not mandate the Irish Air Corps to have aircraft available all of the time frequently those who called out a search and rescue mission had to search around to get top cover and on the particular night in question the Air Corps were asked if they had somebody available and they did not So the next port of call was to call the RAF and this lays bare the lack of aviation experience that there was on that particular night. For in evidence to the inquest the Coast Guard said that they contacted the RAF and sought a Nimrod to carry out the job of top cover. The Nimrod was taken out of service seven years before that fatal night. There was no Nimrods available to the RAF or anybody else and I think this is a serious failing in the evidence that was given to the inquest and has not been challenged by anybody. The Nimrod was taken out of service between 2010 and 2011. The accident took place in 2017. Now I will be seeking the records of the telephone calls that were made on the telephone calls that were made on that night but I think this we are in the middle of a process to set up the next 10 year contract and two of the recommendations of the Air Accident Investigation Board were that there would be independent aviation expertise in both the Coast Guard and the Department of Transport. Both of those recommendations have yet to be filled. I am after crossing some line again. I know it was on the debate on the Air Accident Investigation. We need to have a debate on that. Thank you.