Civil servant's report questioned

A KEY civil servant was yesterday accused of providing false information to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey on matters relating to the continuance of marine emergency co-ordination stations at Valentia Island and Malin Head.

John Fearon, a departmental assistant secretary general, was accused by members of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport of providing Mr Dempsey with a report which was inaccurate or misleading on the status of electricity supplies, the home locations of staff, the available facilities locally and suitability of buildings.

Senator Mark Daly repeatedly pressed Mr Fearon about a line in his report which read that “about half” the workforce in the Valentia station did not live in Co Kerry.

Mr Daly said this was inaccurate, and that some 14 of the 16-member staff lived in the county. He questioned the report’s assertion that electricity was a problem in the station, and produced a letter from the ESB to the effect that testing had not revealed any problems. “The ESB have literally said what you put in your report is not correct,” he said.

Mr Daly also took issue with the report’s criticism of existing buildings, saying that the Valentia station was purpose built, and its operations room, containing three people, was of a considerable size, while the station was the fourth largest in these islands.

Tom Sheehan TD said all but two of the Valentia workers’ spouses were employed. He said “80 per cent of the pupils in Cahirciveen secondary school went on to third level education”.

Senator Cecilia Keaveney objected to the report’s finding that schools, shops, leisure centres and spousal employment could be issues for staff, as there was an implication that the area was deficient in these facilities, when it was not. She took issue with the report’s calculation of distances from workers’ homes to Malin station.

Committee chairman Paul Connaughton said he believed Mr Dempsey should be invited before the committee to give evidence, as “the buck stops with him”.

Mr Fearon replied that he had researched his information well, and used the personnel records of his department. He said he had not sought to cause offence to the existing communities, but the issue at stake was what sort of marine emergency co-ordination services did Ireland want in the future.

He said he had been told by then minister of state Pat “The Cope” Gallagher in September 2006 that there would be two stations: one on the east coast and one in Valentia or Malin Head.

However, he had drafted the report to examine whether a third way, having a station on the east coast and a station at a new location in the west, was a better option.

Niall Blaney TD said Mr Gallagher had told the committee in June 2006 that there would be two stations and that they were Valentia and Malin Head, as Dublin was being dropped.

The members agreed to seek clarification on the point.