Extended helicopter cover may be provided for east coast

THE Government is "actively considering" providing a medium range search and rescue helicopter service for the first time on the east coast, which may lee put out to commercial tender.

Currently, 24 hour, short range helicopter cover is provided by the Air Corps. However, a report due to be published shortly by the Minister for Defence and the Marine, Mr Barrett, is expected to recommend a medium range service which may only be provided commercially, unless new equipment is purchased immediately for the Air Corps.

Bond Helicopters, the Scottish company which was awarded the new west coast air sea rescue contract at the expense of Irish Helicopters last summer, is understood to have offered to provide a similar service on the east coast.

The Minister's final decision - with or without the Air Corps - will be based on perceived annual savings of £1.8 million on west coast search and rescue, on foot of the recent decision to accept the Bond tender for a Sikorsky based at Shannon.

Any move to seek commercial tenders is likely to be resisted by the Air Corps, which is currently the subject of a consultants' review and which has been providing full cover since the loss of a Co Wexford fisherman in the Scarlet Buccaneer fishing vessel accident off Howth, Co Dublin, a year ago.

The helicopter service available at the time of the death of Mr Timmy Currid was unavailable to fly at night. An RAF helicopter was scrambled from Wales but was too late to save the fisherman when his vessel was driven aground off Howth in bad weather on November 16th last. Six fishermen were also lost off Donegal that week in the Carrickatine.

Following the seven deaths at sea, the Minister ordered inquiries, and also commissioned reports into fishing vessel safety and into east coast search and rescue. The Air Corns was asked to provide 24 hour cover at Baldonnel with existing resources.

An interim report on east coast search and rescue, published last March, recommended 24 hour cover and found that the existing service was "unacceptable", given the high intensity marine, aviation and coastal activities in the Irish Sea.

To date, this cover has been provided by an Alouette helicopter based at Baldonnel by day and a Dauphin at night, but in the past fortnight it is understood that instructions were given to provide a Dauphin only on a full time basis - a move interpreted in defence circles as favouring the Air Corps.

However, there appear to be no moves to purchase new craft for the service, in spite of a recommendation in the Doherty search and rescue report in 1991 that provision of two medium range Sea King helicopters for the Air Corps should be a "long term aim". That report, which led to provision of the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) and the west coast rescue helicopter, also recommended that selected naval officers be trained as pilots.

The lack of full night time cover on the east coast was first raised as "an issue of concern" over three years ago, when a ship ran aground in Dublin Bay and rescue was provided by the Shannon based Irish Helicopters' Sikorsky.

The Department of the Marine declined to comment last night on the contents of the east coast search and rescue report.