Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 28 Jun 2021

Go raibh mair, goethe co eirlech. Leader, I've spoken on search and rescue many times in this chamber and it's coming to the end of a time when I will be able to speak on it. The Future Helicopter Group in 2010 when they started to look at what Ireland needed for search and rescue, there were a number of recommendations. One was the implementation of night vision on helicopters, the other was the ability to carry underslung loads in those great big buckets for fighting. fires and the third was that they would be able to carry incubators. Ten years on, despite having spent £700,000 per aircraft on upgrading them for night vision, £700,000 plus VAT and buying goggles for the crews at a cost of £570,000 the taxpayer paid for, the training has not been completed as far as I know. The incubators, they cannot carry. Any time there's an incubator call, the Air Corps has to step in and the underslung buckets and the like, they haven't been able to provide either. The last time we had a fire in Kerry, we had to call in aircraft from Scotland as well as the Irish Air Corps. Now who is responsible for oversight? We are responsible for political oversight, but who is responsible for oversight? It's ironic that the company CHC got the Irish contract for search and rescue at a time when they were suspended from public contracts in the UK for insider trading. And I really think somebody somewhere has to answer those questions. Corporate governance is a huge part of the safety of the people of Ireland and I'm getting very tired of not being able to get answers to questions. In the last few seconds I have, I want to thank Dr James Wilson, who's known to yourself, Carheerlach, for organising a march across the causeway, 19 kilometres on Saturday, in support of Irish veterans. These were members of the Royal British Legion who stood to gain nothing. I enjoyed four and a half hours walking across the causeway. And isn't it great that when we set politics aside in Northern Ireland, that Northern Irish people are as lovable and as giving towards us. They have collected a substantial sum of money for the Jadaville challenge and I was proud to walk with them and I want to place on record my thanks for taking this initiative. Thank you Carole.