Kenneally “won’t stand” for cut in coast guard helicopter service

Waterford Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Kenneally has said that it is essential that the Government reverses its decision to cut 24 hour coverage of the coast guard helicopter rescue service in the South East. Deputy Kenneally has said that as a member of the senior Government party he will be pushing as hard as he can to have this decision changed and will not stand for a reduction in the service.

The Waterford TD has also learned that the Waterford helicopter service has had 115 night time taskings since 2004. Last year there were 32, 2008 saw 14, there were 21 in 2007, 20 in 2006, another 16 in 2005 and 12 in 2004.

“I was briefed by the Department of Transport the other day that they will look to try to reverse this decision between now and the proposed introduction in 2013,” said Deputy Kenneally. “However until we have guarantees that there will be no cuts in the service then I will continue to push against this decision.”

“To me it makes absolutely no sense to reduce the service to 12 hours. We all know that maritime emergencies can happen at any time of the day or night. There is so much activity off the south coast outside of the 9am to 9pm window. We need to have the facilities in place to save lives that are in danger when a problem arises.”

“Last year alone the Waterford helicopter service was requested 32 times at night. That proves there is a clear need for this service. There has been speculation that the reduction of the service to 12 hours could save as much as €1 million per year. I would argue that we should not be putting a price on life. If that helicopter saved only one life per year outside of the proposed hours then it would still be money very well spent.”

“I was talking to a woman recently who was on the ferry out of Wexford one night. It was a very rough crossing and one man was swept overboard. The ferry turned around, which was no easy thing for a ship that size to do, and tried to save him but the sea was too rough to launch a rescue boat. The coast guard was called but this was before the Waterford service was operating for 24 hours. This meant that the helicopter had to come from Dublin. Five minutes before the helicopter arrived, the ferry passengers had to watch that man drown.”

“We don’t want that type of thing to ever happen again. That is why I will not stand for these proposed changes and I can promise the people of Waterford that I will do everything I can to stop the service being cut,” Deputy Kenneally concluded.