Smith rejects criticism of Air Corps' capabilities

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has rejected warnings that Government cutbacks will affect search and rescue operations conducted by the Air Corps.

He was responding to criticism from the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) of the Government's decision to cancel the Sikorsky helicopter deal as part of a €40 million cut in defence spending.

The ITF represents 600 trade unions and six million members around the world. It works through SIPTU in Ireland.

Mr Tony Ayton, an inspector with the ITF, has written to Mr John Browne, Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, to express his organisation's concern at the decision.

"I think that whatever cost-savings a government must make, life-saving equipment must be exempted," he said in the letter.

Mr Smith said he was fully committed to providing the Air Corps with the best possible equipment for all its roles in the short and long term.

The Dauphin helicopter based in the north-west would be replaced at the end of this year with a longer-range helicopter which had a larger capacity. "A number of Air Corps pilots have already been trained on this type of helicopter and others are in the process of being trained. This is an enhancement of search and rescue services, not a diminution."

The Minister said that putting the medium-lift helicopter deal on hold was a painful decision, but he intended to go back to the marketplace next year to acquire the helicopters through alternative arrangements such as public/private partnerships or leasing. "A special project team has been established to examine the issues involved and report as soon as possible."

The main priority was the purchase of fixed-wing training aircraft. This would ensure the continued training and retention of cadets in the Air Corps, Mr Smith said. That contract would be in place before the end of the year.

Mr Ayton said yesterday that the lack of air and sea rescue facilities in Ireland was embarrassing. While air and sea rescue workers were doing their utmost, there were not enough of them and they were not being given adequate resources.

He had "cringed" when statistics for air and sea rescue facilities around the world were compared at an international meeting he had attended last year.

"We were way down near the end," he said. "We could cope with an ordinary type of emergency, but if we were faced with a big one, we couldn't cope. As an independent nation, we should be able to provide our own air and sea rescue facilities."

He said that while many maritime workers were "quite disturbed" by the decision not to buy the new helicopters, the average seafarer off the coast probably did not realise how significant it was.

The ITF has called on the Government to consider selling Farmleigh House, since it had been bought at around the time the aircraft deal was on the table.

"If things are as bad as this decision not buy the aircraft seems to suggest, why not sell Farmleigh House on some lease-back arrangement and buy the aircraft?" Mr Ayton said.