The Fine Gael spokesman for the marine, Mr Alan Dukes, has called on the Department of the Marine to carry out an investigation into how a 999 operator had difficulty contacting Valentia Coast Guard during a drowning incident.
Eircom is already conducting an investigation into why an operator spent more than a minute on two separate occasions during the same 999 call from Kilkee, Co Clare, on April 14th attempting to contact the Valentia station, the co-ordination centre for marine emergencies in the south-west, before finally getting through.
Mr Dukes said an inquiry was necessary not just by Eircom but by the department to find out why there were problems.
On the first occasion during the incident, the operator, who was responding to a call in Kilkee about divers being in difficulty, gave up trying to establish contact with Valentia and decided instead to contact the Dublin Coast Guard Command Centre. "In the event of any difficulty contacting either Valentia or Malin Head Coast Guard Command Centres, the procedure is to connect the caller to the Dublin Coast Guard Command Centre," Eircom stated.
Dublin Coast Guard reverted the call to the operator after 27 seconds and requested it to be connected to Valentia. Contact was made 3 minutes and 42 seconds after the operator first received the 999 call from a man who was witnessing a drowning. A department spokesman said he could not comment on why the operator had difficulty "patching a call" through to Valentia. He was satisfied Dublin Coast Guard carried out the correct action in reverting the call to the operator. Coast Guard personnel would be reviewing the incident with Eircom, he added.
Mr Declan McCarthy, the man who had contacted the emergency services, said he had a difficulty accepting Eircom's version of events that two 999 calls were made from the phone he was using. Based on his recollection and the mobile phone record, one 999 call was made, he said.